Isha's eyes widened in an instant, her exquisite face a mask of incredulous disbelief and the faint, vexed blush of someone who had been thoroughly outmaneuvered.
She felt the Ki flowing within her, a power that shared its origin with Axis. The sense of intimacy, born from the very source of life itself, was like an invisible chain.
It made it impossible for her to muster any true hostility toward the man before her, whose face was alight with a teasing smile. Instead, she felt a strange sense of dependency, as if they were connected by blood.
The smile on Axis's face grew even brighter, full of smug satisfaction and the benevolent, yet cunning, warmth of a father.
"How could you call this a scheme, my dear daughter?" he asked. "This is a gift of life, with a minor bond of kinship attached. See? Didn't your old man give you a perfect, top-tier divine body, one that allows you to perfectly unleash your power? You can even use Ki, a power that not even my own biological sons have mastered.
"The return on this investment… tsk tsk, you've made out like a bandit!" Axis spread his hands, wearing an expression that clearly said,
You've just received the deal of a lifetime.
Bandit my foot! Isha stomped her foot in frustration.
The reverence she felt for Axis as a father was real, an instinct born from her very flesh and soul. But this feeling clashed violently with her pride and identity as the Goddess of Life, the mother goddess of the Aeldari.
As a result, she found she could not bring herself to hate him; it felt more like a father teasing his daughter. Even when she tried to say his name, the word "Daddy" would slip out unconsciously.
"Da-Daddy! You… you are truly infuriating."
Nearby, Cegorach, the Laughing God, was already rolling on the ground, howling with laughter. Tears streamed from his eyes, crystallizing into shimmering shards of energy as they left his disembodied form.
"Hahaha! Magnificent! It's absolutely wonderful! A family drama! A tale of fatherly love and filial piety! Oh no, wait, it's a tale of a 'loving' father and a 'livid' daughter! Isha has adopted a human for a father! This script is more absurd than all of my plays combined! Hahaha! Praise be to laughter! Praise be to this glorious accident!"
His Harlequins joined in with their own grotesque laughter and applause, as if celebrating an unparalleled comedic performance.
Some even took out parchment and quills to begin documenting the event. This was true history in the making: a story between gods, where the great Axis granted the Aeldari mother goddess a body, and in doing so, made her his daughter.
"Alright, everyone, we'll rehearse this later!" one Harlequin chirped gleefully. "We'll need someone to play the great Lord Axis and someone to play the Goddess of Life. We must spread this masterpiece across the entire galaxy. It will be an epic of legendary proportions!"
"No! This story must not get out," Isha cried out, rushing to stop the Harlequins who were already planning their galactic tour.
This was no laughing matter. If they were allowed to spread this tale, how would she, the goddess of the Aeldari, ever have the dignity to show her face again?
She, Isha, had her pride. The Aeldari Goddess of Life had been tricked by a human and had become his daughter. The shame was simply unbearable.
"Alright, my followers," Cegorach finally intervened, standing up to address his troupe. "Laugh all you want, make your jokes, but this matter cannot be spread. You know the consequences."
He had to put a stop to it. If the common Aeldari learned that their Goddess of Life was now the daughter of a human Primarch, how would they react? They wouldn't be able to bear it. In the eyes of the Aeldari, humans were little more than monkeys. If their great mother goddess had become a human's daughter, what did that make them? Were they all now a generation below humanity?
"Fa-Father, I beg you," Isha pleaded, her eyes welling with tears that transformed into the purest spirit stones as they fell.
"I can call you Father in private, but… but please, I implore you, do not let what happened today ever be revealed."
Axis watched the shimmering stones fall. They were valuable things; a single small piece could protect an Aeldari soul from the sight of Slaanesh as it moved through the Materium.
"I understand," Axis said, his tone softening. He was not without compassion. He stepped forward and gently patted the goddess's head. "In private, you can call me Father. In public, you are still the great mother goddess of the Aeldari, one who has gained her physical form."
At his side, the Laughing God used his divine power to instantly erase the memories of all the surrounding Aeldari who had witnessed the scene. For Isha to establish such a relationship with Axis was not a bad thing, he mused. At the very least, it meant the Aeldari now had one foot firmly on Axis's war chariot.
The Goddess of Life nodded, calming herself. If she had been forced to call Axis 'Daddy' in public, she would have rather sealed herself away on her world forever.
"Isha," Axis began, "you should be able to use Ki now. And because you are a goddess yourself, your Ki should be on the level of the gods. God Ki is completely different from ordinary Ki; it possesses all sorts of unique abilities. Why don't you give it a try?"
The Goddess of Life, now with pointed ears, was a top-tier entity of the Immaterium, her status second only to the four great Chaos Gods.
If she were in the Dragon Ball universe, she would be at least a Kai, or perhaps more accurately, a Supreme Kai.
They could create life, even entire planets. These were the things Axis intended to guide Isha toward.
Isha nodded. She focused, and a ball of white Ki coalesced in her palm. It was threaded with tendrils of emerald green, suffused with a potent life force.
With a body engineered to channel such power, she could successfully wield Ki, but it was slightly different from Axis's. The Ki she produced lacked the savage, destructive power of the Saiyans.
Instead, it was brimming with a powerful life energy, far stronger than the life-aspected Ki Axis could simulate. The quality of her energy also seemed to be a level higher. In fact, the Ki she now commanded felt even more potent than her own divine power.
Previously, Isha had naively assumed that Ki would be a secondary tool for her, something to resist the corruption of the Warp and to supplement her understanding of life.
Now, she saw that was far from the truth. It was possible that Ki would become her primary focus, her true path forward.
This God Ki, born from her own divinity, was far more powerful than she had ever imagined.
Axis watched the Goddess of Life manifest her Ki and nodded in satisfaction. His own development of Ki was still crude.
He was very much looking forward to seeing what new and interesting techniques the Aeldari goddess could devise. Although the total amount of her Ki was less than his, its quality was superior, thanks to the infusion of divine essence.
Ki had a technique known as Instant Transmission, a skill Axis had been trying to grasp for decades without any success.
Perhaps, he thought, the mastery of Ki required the touch of a Goddess of Life to truly perfect it.
"You can try to develop other techniques with Ki," Axis explained. "In my world, there were those who could use Ki to teleport across hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of light-years. The method involves locking onto another's Ki signature and then simply entering through the barrier of space to appear there instantly."
He told her what he knew of the technique, which was only a rough principle. If he knew the exact method, he would have mastered it long ago.
"So miraculous?" Cegorach exclaimed. "Even we, the gods of the Immaterium, cannot do such a thing." A Warp entity could easily manifest at a specific point in the Materium.
But to travel thousands of light-years across realspace in an instant, without relying on the Warp at all, was something no one could do. Not even the fastest starship could match that speed.
"It is a very powerful ability," Axis continued, looking at Isha. "Ki has all sorts of potential uses, and you yourself are a god. I believe you will be able to master Instant Transmission, Isha, because in my world, all gods who controlled Ki possessed this ability."
From Kami transporting Goku from the afterlife to the Supreme Kais who could teleport anywhere in the universe, or even across universes, the potential was clear. My own Instant Transmission depends on you now, little Isha!
"Father," Isha said, her voice filled with a new resolve.
"This God Ki is perfectly suited for me. It is perhaps the most suitable energy for me in the material universe. I will follow your guidance and develop this power to its fullest." This energy was indeed powerful, with so much to explore. She was determined to study it deeply.
"In my world, there is a title called Supreme Kai," Axis explained. "These gods are the most supreme beings in the universe. Their combat power may not be the highest, but the abilities they command are beyond imagination. They are the avatars of life, responsible for creating planets, nurturing life, and even selecting worthy mortals to become the gods of their worlds. They also train lesser Kais and Grand Kais. You, Isha, are a Goddess of Life. Your divine power is now very similar to that of a Supreme Kai. So, develop yourself in that direction. I will share with you all the information and abilities I know about them."
If he could one day ascend to the level of a God of Destruction, then Isha could be his Supreme Kai.
As for Angels, Axis had no need for one. An Angel was just a babysitter for a God of Destruction.
"To create a planet, and even train a world's god!" Isha's voice was filled with awe. "Does such a wondrous power exist?
"I am very much looking forward to this. Spreading life throughout the universe, creating various races… my goodness, it sounds a bit like the Old Ones." The description of a Supreme Kai sounded remarkably similar to the ancient race.
But the Old Ones were a multitude. Was there only one Supreme Kai?
"Is there only one Supreme Kai in the entire universe?" Isha asked.
"There is more than one," Axis replied. "In theory, there can be five official Supreme Kais: a Grand Supreme Kai and four directional ones for North, South, East, and West. There are also a large number of apprentices, with no set limit."
"That is interesting," Isha mused. "The Supreme Kais truly do sound like the Old Ones. But even with a few dozen of them, their numbers are still far less than the Old Ones as a race." Could she truly obtain power like that? The power to create worlds, to create life, to even nurture new gods.
"Perhaps they are similar. Were the Old Ones very powerful in the past?" Axis asked.
"Extremely powerful," Isha said. "In some ways, we, the Aeldari gods, were their creations. Sixty million years ago, the Immaterium was not the turbulent sea it is today, because the Old Ones had mastered powerful psychic technology. There is even a legend that the mightiest of the Old Ones feared not even the Chaos Gods." The Aeldari pantheon had only witnessed the twilight of that age, when the Old Ones strode across the cosmos.
"Interesting," Axis said. "But a single Supreme Kai has the power equivalent to the entire race of the Old Ones. So, develop your power well. I will also have need of your God Ki in the future."
The Old Man on the Throne had been far-sighted. If not for his advice, Axis would never have allowed Isha to become a goddess who wielded Ki. Now that she possessed God Ki, her value to him was immense.
Previously, Axis had been relying on the idea of a Fruit of the Tree of Might. Now, on top of that, he had Isha to provide him with God Ki. With a Supreme Kai on his side, Axis was more confident than ever of becoming a Super Saiyan God, or even a God of Destruction.
"I am also very curious about this Supreme Kai."
Just then, a wave of bloodthirsty, berserk Chaotic power descended upon them.
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ps?