If Reisen Riou and Raiden Ei were just making a kid, it wouldn't be this complicated.
They were aiming for a demigod with godhood potential, not some ordinary being.
Right now, their "little person" was still a blueprint, a draft for Raiden Makoto's revival vessel.
Makoto, realizing she wasn't cut out for crafting her own body—her attempts would've turned her into a Thunder Slime—gave up. With Revival's help, she'd been studying and embracing a cozy retirement life.
She found the slacker lifestyle pretty sweet, doing whatever she wanted. After checking in with Yae Saiguu and others, she chose to lie flat, in no rush to revive.
Reisen saw this "make-a-person" project as a way to consolidate his sprawling knowledge.
His expertise was vast but bloated. He'd mastered barrier techniques, medicine, elemental control, and archery, but the rest? Just data piles.
The fix was simple: spar with his wife, Ei, a few times, and he'd master it all.
But he wasn't suicidal.
He trusted his control over Ei, but if she got carried away? Trouble.
Back when Makoto was around, she could rein Ei in. Now, with Makoto chilling in the Thunder-Rich Field, no one could stop an unhinged Ei.
Ei used to spar with Tiger-Devouring Chiyo, but now? Chiyo dodged her challenges.
The few times she didn't, Chiyo got pummeled into Cat-Chiyo, nursing wounds for ages.
…
Reisen had most of the tech needed for a demigod.
He even had divine knowledge—pure, untainted stuff straight from Celestia, not corrupted scraps.
But a body to hold such knowledge was rare.
Even a pure elemental creation body, built with Reisen's skill, couldn't handle divine knowledge.
Its weight was too much. Even Reisen's battle-hardened, youkai-enhanced body couldn't bear it, let alone a newborn's.
Per his calculations, their creation needed an LV80+ life force at birth, with its fate ignited and a star already lit in its constellation.
So, Reisen used Ei's body cells, infused with his own data, to form a base embryo.
Raiden Ei's cells, though elemental, were different from Reisen's.
Her "blood" wasn't blood but pure, high-density Electro. Structurally, she was closer to a Thunder Slime than a human.
Even elemental beings, when humanoid, had flesh-and-blood bodies with excess elemental energy. Gods? Pure elemental flesh.
Sounds similar, but it's the key to their reproductive barrier.
Ahem. Back to Reisen's tech consolidation.
Though they'd settled on the embryo's material, growing it was a pain.
It needed time to mature, and Reisen had to ensure the Thunder-Rich Field wouldn't deform it—Inazuma's odd youkai, like kamaitachi tails or kappa beaks and shells, often came from such environments.
Reisen wasn't about to let his kid sprout horns.
…
While Reisen toiled over the demigod project, a seismic event shook Sumeru, the nation of wisdom.
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, guardian of the World Tree, was confirmed dead.
Sumeru's Dendro Archon seat had passed to an unknown god.
Her name: Lesser Lord Kusanali.
Before entering the Sanctuary of Surasthana, no one had heard of her.
Alongside her came the Void, a divine creation—Rukkhadevata's final legacy, a supercomputer blanketing Sumeru.
When Rukkhadevata fell, the other Archons felt it.
Ei, sensing her Gnosis but clueless: "What's this Gnosis ping about?"
…
"Yae Saiguu's retiring? Why?" Reisen nearly dropped his reagent, stunned.
Revival's force field caught it just in time.
"She says little Miko can handle things now, so she's off to chill with big sis Makoto," Ei said, scratching her head, annoyed. She'd been roughing up Saiguu lately.
"That's not like Saiguu," Reisen scoffed. "Hold up, let me check her constellation. Could be fate's nudge."
Sure enough, his astrology showed Saiguu's constellation still shone, her fate unbroken, but her stars lacked vitality, looking lazy.
Meanwhile, Yae Miko's nearby, similar constellation blazed with unusual energy.
"Well, damn," Reisen and Ei exchanged looks.
"Wait, another possibility," Ei said, snapping her fingers. "Where's Saiguu right now?"
Saiguu was in the Serenitea Pot testing ground, where the Sky-Veiling System was always on.
A constellation cut off from its master would react like that.
Not wanting to bug Saiguu and Makoto, Ei suggested checking Chiyo's constellation.
Chiyo wasn't in the testing ground but was guarding a secret chamber with the Sky-Veiling System active, thanks to Ei's coaxing.
"Yup, same deal," Reisen said, glancing at Ei. "Ask Chiyo if she's been feeling sluggish lately."
"The Sky-Veiling System does that?" Ei marveled. "Mind blown."