Chapter 12: Radiance, P10

~12.10~

*****

The warm water was very refreshing for Kye. She had just gotten in and was sitting there enjoying it. Alethea was sitting next to her with a towel around her hips. Liliana and Aliana were sitting next to each other on Kye’s other side. Hannah, Layla, and everyone else that was in the resort were slowly filing in.

“Heya, guys,” Alaira said as she sat down next to Alethea. “Quite the show you put on, Kye. How are you feeling?”

Kye, leaning back against the warm rocks and partially slid down into the water, “I’m feeling a looooot better.”

Alaira giggled.

Rika sat down next to Alaira and asked Kye, “So that was Kami Ikazuchi, wasn’t it?”

“Yep, sure was.” Kye glanced over and saw that Rika was sitting up out of the water, her breasts in full view. She giggled and said, “I can teach you. It’ll be hard, though.”

“Really?” The more excited Rika got, the more she moved up and down.

“Rika honey,” Kanada said as she stepped into the water, “nice view.”

Rika pouted at her mother, “We’re all girls here.”

“Sure, but it’s a little unbecoming, bouncing around like that in a hot spring.”

Michelle had walked in behind Kanade, almost forcefully leading Adele in, who also had a towel around her hips. “Heh, I enjoyed the show.”

“Mimi, I don’t think-”

“Hush. You’re fine. Come sit next to Kye.” She led Adele into the water, and Alethea scooted over, forcing Alaira and Rika to shift a bit as well, so that Adele could sit between her and Kye. Michelle plopped down next to Aliana.”

Kye wasn’t paying mind to anything, but Alethea noticed Adele’s discomfort. “Love, it’s fine. I’m here with you. Nobody here is worried about you being here, same as with me.”

Adele looked up and around. Everyone had settled into the hot spring. None so much as frowned. On the contrary, at least one was studying Adele. “H-Hannah?”

“You’ve grown quite well, young lady. I see the medication I prescribed is doing its job. I was initially concerned about the dosage, given how you’ve taken the other medications. Yours is a rather unique case in that you selectively prevented parts of the male puberty, but allowed the core part to progress. I was concerned the dosage I prescribed would need several adjustments, but it seems to be working quite well. You’ve clearly grown into a B cup, nearly a C. Excellent. How does it feel?”

Adele was somewhat taken aback.

“Now that you mention it…” Kye rose up and grabbed a handful. “You have grown quite a bit in the past nine months. Wow…”

“K-Kye!” Adele froze in place with Kye’s hand on her chest.

“Amazing!” Kye gave her a warm smile. “I’m so happy for you, love!”

Everyone around them giggled and laughed. Alaira added, “Kye, I didn’t know you liked boobs so much.”

“Ahem.” Kye gestured at Adele, Alethea, and then Michelle on the other side of her attendants. “I have three wives… so ya know?” She smirked and looked Alaira straight in the eyes. “You know, Lara…”

Her eyes widened, and she slipped down into the water to where only her head was visible. “But we’re cousins…”

Kye shrugged, “Didn’t stop the redheads, and they’re closer cousins than we are. Hehe. We only share a great-grandparent.”

As she said that, Danielle and Elizabeth were walking in. Elizabeth overheard and immediately ran over, slipping on her way and splashing into the middle.

“Whoa, belly flop,” said Michelle, holding back a laugh.

Alexandra smirked, “Pfft,” and stepped over to check on her. She reached into the water and pulled Elizabeth’s head out of the water. “Elizabeth? Are you okay?”

The blonde girl ignored Alexandra and looked at Michelle. “What does she mean, ‘Didn’t stop the redheads.’?!”

“Hiya, Liz,” Michelle said with a smug look. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Hehe.”

Elizabeth stood up out of the water and walked over, looming over Michelle. “You tell me at once, Missy!”

The elders had to hold back laughter, but Elizabeth didn’t notice. Michelle shrugged. “Well… I’m married to Adele, Alethea, and Kye, and Adele knocked me up! I’m pregnant with triplets!”

Her eyes widened, and she froze in place.

Danielle had just stepped into the water and walked over to Elizabeth. “Liz?” She waved a hand in front of the blonde’s face. She looked at Michelle. “I think she’s broken.” She put her hand up to her face and examined Elizabeth’s frozen expression. “Hmm…” With her other hand, she smacked the back of the blonde’s head, and that shook her back to reality.

“What? Who? Where?” Elizabeth jumped back.

“C’mon, Liz.” Danielle grabbed her sister’s hand and led her to sit down. “Let’s sit and enjoy the hot spring.” She made sure to sit between her and Michelle. She glanced around the room, all eyes were on them. “Sorry about that. Liz…”

“Sorry.”

*****

Later that night, Kye, her spouses, and a few of the elders were having tea. Atalante, Layla, and Allison came and joined them for a debriefing.

“An S+ beast appeared here on Atlas, hmm,” Atalante mused aloud. “The fact that this place is all but untouched is nothing short of a miracle.” She smiled and looked at Kye. “You have proven that despite our power, we are mere babes. Had Astarte, Astraia, Ginchiyo, Alexandra, Hannah, and Allison fought that thing together, there would have been considerable damage to the man-made surroundings. And you’re telling me the future you were shown had a gravestone for everyone other than Allison? So then she would have used her full power.”

Allison grimaced. It was rare for her to show any sort of emotion. “Despite my power, I cannot fight safely as Kye can. More importantly,” she glanced at Kye, “you accomplished something none other than I have done. You damaged the landscape. Aether is quite powerful, but that alone is not enough to slice off the tops of mountains.”

Atalante nodded, “Yes, that’s right. It’s no simple feat to deal damage like that. Due to how powerful we have become, it became necessary at some point to adjust the foundations so that they protect the land from damage by mana and aether. What you hit it with was quite powerful, but that should not have been sufficient to damage it. So how?”

“Well…” Kye said. She glanced at Alethea, but it wasn’t her pink-haired partner than answered, nor was it one of her red-headed partners.

Allison’s body glowed with a brilliant blue light, and she held her hand out. “She used this sort of power. Radiance. It’s pure Mana. What we call mana is a very diluted form of Mana. Aether is diluted Mana too, but to a much smaller degree. This is completely undiluted. It’s pure. Just like how aether is multitudes more potent than mana, Radiance is multitudes more potent than aether. But all of it is Mana.”

“So then, we need to set the foundations to temporarily increase output to-”

“No. You’ll exhaust a foundation very quickly and it ultimately do nothing. It’s entirely unrealistic to power a foundation enough to withstand Radiance. You just have to accept that if Radiance is used, maps might get rewritten.”

Atalante glanced around at the immortals, receiving only a nod from each. Exasperated, she sighed and accepted it. “Just try not to break a planet, will you?”

*****

Revision: 2024-2-26