Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

Listening to my words to Petra, Veerott immediately understood them as a test. Or rather, what he believed to be a test.

From his perspective, it made perfect sense. Southern Hope had valued him enough to ignore Stone Supreme’s desire to kill them. Southern Hope had spared his friends because of him. Naturally, there had to be expectations attached to that.

Nothing came for free, not power, nor trust, and certainly not opportunities.

Meanwhile, Aqualas and Seraphina arrived at an entirely different conclusion. If it truly was a test, why announce it so openly? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of what the test was aiming for?

No, to them, Southern Hope was doing something else entirely. He was driving a wedge between them and Veerott using this supposed test subtly and deliberately.

Making Veerott feel valued while diminishing everyone around him. A classic method of isolating someone from their support. The more they thought about it, the more convinced they became.

Meanwhile, Veerott had considered the same question. Why announce a test? Yet he reached a completely different answer from his friends: Who gives someone a test without telling them it’s a test? That wouldn’t be a test, that would just be a mockery of their intelligence.

And for all of Southern Hope’s faults, Veerott had never gotten the impression that he enjoyed belittling his own people.

Unfortunately for everyone involved... None of them were correct. There was no test. At least, not in the way they imagined.

I wasn’t measuring Veerott or trying to isolate him, I was simply hinting at something. Something simple and important for him going forward on my side.

It was the difference between standing behind me as a trusted subordinate... And standing beside me as a trusted friend.

Those roles were worlds apart. Subordinates obeyed while the friends shared burdens. Subordinates received orders and friends received trust. And trust was far harder to earn.

Because trust wasn’t built on strength alone. Strength was common but loyalty was rare. Ambition was rarer still and Veerott possessed all three.

I saw ambition in him. Not the petty ambition of rulers or nobles. Something far larger. He wanted to revive his race. The once-glorious Viltronians of Planet Viltron. A civilization whose name had once terrified the known universe. A race so powerful that entire star systems had trembled at their approach.

In the past, there had been few people more willing than me to crush such ambitions before they could take root. A race with that kind of history rebuilding itself? That sounded less like hope and more like the beginning of another catastrophe.

But things were different now, because I knew better or more. I knew about the civil war that had shattered their world and the truths hidden beneath the legends. Because of that knowledge, my view of the Viltronians had changed.

I believed a new civilization of Viltronians was possible. One that didn’t see its purpose as purging weakness from the universe. One that used its strength to protect rather than conquer. After all, strength itself wasn’t evil. Only the will directing it was.

Veerott was proof of that. So was Jaya. One had grown up in isolation, far from civilization yet he grew up as a kind soul.

The other, Jaya, had grown up without even knowing the truth of her origins. Yet she hadn’t become the monster history claimed all Viltronians inevitably were.

If anything, they had become evidence that nurture could triumph over legacy. That the sins of the past didn’t have to dictate the future. Of course, I wasn’t naïve enough to believe ideals alone could reshape a civilization.

A powerful civilization required a powerful leadership protecting those strong ideals.

And if I intended to establish a new Viltronian civilization, then Veerott and Jaya would stand at its center. Not as rulers over others. But as examples of what their people could become. At the same time, I wasn’t doing this purely out of kindness.

I had ambitions of my own. The Dark Realm wasn’t a place one entered casually. Conquering it would require armies capable of standing against horrors that had endured since ancient times: Ruler-Class armies. And if I was going to build such an army, then few foundations were more promising than a reborn race of Viltronians.

Of course, that was a problem for the future. Right now, I had to deal with the present.

"You two agreed to leave," Veerott said sternly, looking at his friends. "Stop bickering shamelessly and leave already."

Both women blinked in surprise. The words had been unusually harsh. Especially coming from Veerott. For a moment, neither knew how to react. Yet when they looked into his eyes, they saw conflict, pain, and determination. He didn’t want them to leave because he no longer cared. He wanted them to leave because he cared too much.

And that somehow made it worse. Unfortunately for him, they had known him for far too long. Neither woman took his act seriously.

"Sure, We’ll leave," Seraphina replied with a faint smile and Aqualas nodded vigorously. "But only if you come with us."

Veerott froze, his eyes widened as he stared at the two women in disbelief. This wasn’t shamelessness but sheer stupidity. Would they only give up when killed himself?

Also, the sheer shamelessness had steeled his resolve. He risked hurting his closest friends for their own safety. And their response was simply,,, collective suicide. That was not what they were trying to achieve but that’s where things were headed.

The guilt Veerott felt for speaking so coldly to his friends rapidly diminished. As they were being unreasonably stubborn despite knowing how important this was for him.

Veerott believed he could use the wager to stay close to the Southern Hope. If he truly wanted to win this absolute trust, he would have to pass this test with flying colors. However, his friends had already proven they were going to do their absolute best to make him fail—and perhaps even force Southern Hope to break his word entirely.

"This color suits you, Aqualas. I always said you were the most shameless supreme being, and here you are proving it again," Petra mocked, trying to provoke him into attacking her just to see how Veerott would react.

If Veerott stepped in to protect Petra, Aqualas would be devastated. But if he stood by and did nothing, the Southern Hope might grow angry and finally help Petra throw Aqaulas’s arrogant ass into the Void.