Lord of the realm

Chapter 235: I can seal him!

Primordial force, unstructured potential, the source from which all other energies are derived. Powerful, yes, but ultimately predictable in its unpredictability.

But there was something else woven into him. Something that made controlling or containing him exponentially more difficult.

The divine beast essence.

Ba’narussa hadn’t just sacrificed herself to fuel his resurrection. She’d integrated completely into his being, and divine beasts were fundamentally different from other entities. They existed partially outside normal causality, their nature defying conventional categorization.

Combined with Chaos Origin, that divine beast essence made Jaenor something unprecedented. Not just powerful, but uncontainable. Every technique she’d used to try imposing order on his chaos had been disrupted by that wild, untamable divine nature.

She could match him in raw power. Could fight him to a standstill.

But actually defeating him, ending him permanently, and controlling what he might become?

That was another matter entirely.

For the first time since ascending to Sovereign Queen, Kailthrys felt genuinely uncertain about her ability to manage a situation.

They were perhaps a thousand feet from the ground when a presence manifested beside them.

Suyajna.

The daemon goddess had pulled herself from her crater, her body still showing the damage from Jaenor’s beating but functional enough to move. Her black eyes held calculation rather than fear now, and she positioned herself between Kailthrys and Jaenor, though closer to the Sovereign Queen.

"Kailthrys," Suyajna said, her voice carrying clearly despite the wind.

"A moment of your time."

Jaenor’s eyes narrowed, his body tensing for a potential attack.

But Kailthrys raised a hand, signaling for patience. Her gaze fixed on Suyajna with interest.

"Speak. Make it quick."

Suyajna glanced at Jaenor, then back to the Sovereign Queen.

When she spoke, her words were measured and calculated.

"You felt it during your fight. The uncertainty. The realization that he’s not something you can easily contain or control."

Kailthrys’s expression didn’t change, but the slight tightening around her eyes confirmed the accuracy of Suyajna’s observation.

"I did. Your point?"

"You can’t kill him," Suyajna said bluntly.

"Not permanently. The Chaos Origin, along with the essence of Magdalyn and the divine beast he’s integrated with, means he exists partially outside the cycle of death and resurrection that governs normal beings. Even if you destroyed his body, even if you scattered his essence across dimensions, he’d eventually reform. The chaos would pull him back together because that’s what chaos does. It persists."

She took a step closer to Kailthrys, lowering her voice slightly, though Jaenor’s enhanced hearing still caught every word.

"But he can be sealed. Contained. Trapped in a space where his power can’t affect the outside world. That’s the only solution that actually works long-term."

Kailthrys’s golden eyes studied Suyajna carefully, reading the daemon goddess’s intentions.

"And you’re offering this solution out of altruism? Concern for cosmic order?"

"I’m offering it because he’s going to kill me," Suyajna said with brutal honesty.

"The moment we finish talking, he’s going to end my existence. But I have knowledge you need. Techniques that could work where your divine authority couldn’t. So I’m proposing a trade."

"What trade?"

"Help me seal him, and in return, I won’t be in your way or your realm. I’ll take what remains of the demon race and retreat permanently. Somewhere far from Evanisckar, far from your jurisdiction. You’ll never have to deal with me again, and the mortal realm will be free of daemon goddess interference."

Kailthrys considered this carefully. The offer was tempting. Solving two problems simultaneously: neutralizing Jaenor’s potential threat and removing Suyajna from the equation.

But there were complications.

"The mortals below expect justice. They’ve watched him beat you nearly to death. If I suddenly ally with you to seal him, that creates political problems."

"Better political problems than a being you can’t control growing stronger," Suyajna countered. "He fought you to a draw today. What happens in a year, when he’s had time to fully explore his capabilities? In a decade? In a century? The Chaos Origin in him will keep evolving and keep adapting. Eventually, he’ll surpass even you. And then what?"

The words hit the uncertainty Kailthrys already felt. The concern she’d been trying to suppress.

"How would you seal him?" she asked.

"His chaos nature resists order. His divine beast essence makes conventional containment impossible. What technique do you possess that would work?"

Suyajna’s black eyes gleamed.

"The Origin Aura. He still has traces of it in his system. The merged power he achieved before I consumed him. It was integrated into his Chaos Origin during his resurrection, but it’s still there. Still distinct. A tiny fraction of structured energy in all that primordial chaos."

She formed a symbol with her hands, dark energy flowing in specific patterns.

"I can target that. Use it as an anchor point. Build a seal around the organized energy and let it spread to contain the chaos."

Kailthrys weighed the proposal. Centuries of containment.

Against that, the political complications of appearing to ally with a daemon goddess.

The calculation took perhaps three seconds.

"Agreed," Kailthrys said.

"Help me seal him, and you’re free to leave this plane. But the moment you set foot in Evanisckar again, our arrangement ends, and I will personally end you."

"Acceptable," Suyajna said.

"Hey!"

Jaenor’s voice cut through their conversation, his tone shifting from patient to angry.

"You two are just going to scheme right in front of me? Make deals about sealing me away like I’m not standing right here?"

Both divine beings turned to face him.

"Yes," Kailthrys said simply.

"Because you’re too dangerous to leave uncontained, and I’ve concluded that cooperation with an enemy is preferable to allowing an uncontrollable force to exist unchecked."

Her power flared, golden light blazing brighter than before.

Kailthrys moved first, not to attack but to signal.

Golden light pulsed from her in rhythmic waves, and the wounded Sovereigns below felt the call. Chronalis, despite her severed legs. Vorathys, wounded but functional. Aethormor, exhausted from spatial manipulation. Even the injured female Sovereigns who’d been deliberately spared by Suyajna.

They began rising, joining their Queen in the sky, forming a circle around Jaenor’s position.

"Really?" Jaenor’s eyes swept across the assembling gods.

"This is how it’s going to be? All of you against me because you’re scared?"

"Not scared," Kailthrys corrected.

"Cautious. There’s a difference."