The Flower Goddess Nabu listened to Rukkhadevata's brief explanation of the situation and finally understood that this was not the world after death at all, but that someone had brought her back to life.
This kind of thing was a first for her. She had never imagined anyone could pull something like this off. It was unbelievable.
"Little brother, thank you for resurrecting me." Nabu blinked her eyes and gave him a playful wink.
Koji's eyes turned, as if he had suddenly thought of something interesting. "Nabu, I have some good news for you."
"Rukkhadevata and I are together now. We even have a child, her name is Nahida."
As Koji spoke, he took Rukkhadevata's hand, their fingers interlaced.
Rukkhadevata's jade-like hand was as delicate as a flower petal. It felt very pleasant to play with it in his palm.
Rukkhadevata's pretty face flushed slightly, but she did not pull away. She knew what Koji was trying to do, and to be honest, she was also a little curious how the Flower Goddess Nabu would react.
As for the "child," Nahida really could be considered her child, so that way of putting it was not wrong.
No——
Snowflakes floated down; the north wind wailed.
The smile vanished from Nabu's face. Seeing that Rukkhadevata was not resisting at all, she felt as if the sky had collapsed.
She had always thought that she and Rukkhadevata would live a carefree, shamelessly lovey-dovey life together. Yet after all these years, she came back to find that her wife had been stolen.
And not only that… they even had a child together.
The air of a defeated dog spread off the Flower Goddess. She felt she might as well have stayed dead. What was the point of being resurrected just to suffer this?
I was the one who came first.
She might be scheming and calculating, but her desire for Rukkhadevata's body was absolutely genuine.
"Nabu, you're lusting after my body?"
Using her mind-reading, Rukkhadevata heard every word in Nabu's heart. She couldn't help the twitch at the corner of her mouth. Back then, she had never used mind-reading on Nabu.
You don't know until you listen. Once you listen, you just get depressed.
"Rukkhadevata, you're reading my mind?"
Nabu asked in disbelief. She knew Rukkhadevata had this ability, but it had never been used on her before.
"Nabu, all those little stunts you pulled with the Scarlet King back then gave me a very hard time," Rukkhadevata said helplessly.
If she hadn't developed the Akasha, she suspected she would have followed them down the same path.
So using mind-reading as a precaution was absolutely a matter of planning ahead.
"Rukkhadevata, how devious~"
Nabu wiped at the corners of her eyes in fake grievance, but the expressionless Rukkhadevata beside her remained unmoved. She knew this woman was just putting on an act.
"Let's settle the old accounts first. Now that you're alive again, of course we have to tally everything up properly." Rukkhadevata's lips curled slightly as she casually tossed out a device.
A green, spherical barrier appeared and closed around Nabu. If Nahida had been here, she definitely would have found it familiar—after all, she had been locked inside one for over five hundred years.
Rukkhadevata had made a few modifications, turning it into a portable capture device. For a god of Nabu's level, breaking out of this green barrier in a short time was completely impossible.
"Target captured: one Flower Goddess."
Bang, bang, bang!
Nabu stared, dumbfounded, as she pounded the barrier over and over, to no effect.
Her combat strength among the gods was already near the bottom of the barrel. If it had been the Scarlet King Al-Ahmar in there, this absolutely wouldn't have held him.
"Rukkhadevata, let me out. Have you forgotten all the friendship between us?" Nabu was still trying to play the emotional card.
"Koji, you decide, my beloved." Rukkhadevata gave a faint smile, making Nabu's heart feel ice-cold.
So ruthless!
Rukkhadevata had never smiled at her like that before. Nabu was boiling with jealousy and resentment…
"How about we keep you as a little canary in a cage and let you watch us be lovey-dovey?" Koji's lips quirked upward. To deal with a woman whose schemes ran this deep, you had to find her weakness.
"No, don't! What exactly do you two want?"
Nabu's voice broke as she shouted. Compared to being put through this, she felt that killing her outright might have been kinder.
"Sumeru is short on combat power right now. You're a bit weak, but you're still barely usable," Koji said.
At that, Nabu's face filled with black lines. So my strength is that lousy, huh? Thanks for the insult.
"Fine, just hurry up and let me out!"
A person under someone else's roof has no choice but to bow their head. She had never expected Rukkhadevata to "turn bad" as well. She wanted her gentle Rukkhadevata back, not this black-bellied version.
"Nabu, behave yourself. Otherwise, don't even think about pulling any more of those tricks in the future," Rukkhadevata warned.
She didn't want Nabu acting without restraint again. Back then, summoning Forbidden Knowledge had nearly left Sumeru completely in ruins.
"I know, I won't do those things again."
Nabu watched Koji draw his sword. The razor-sharp light made her skin sting. Even those top-tier gods had never given her this kind of sense of danger.
What the hell? How did Rukkhadevata get acquainted with someone this terrifying?
In that moment, all the little schemes in her heart shrank away. Before overwhelming strength, all conspiracies and plots were nothing but paper.
She had originally wanted to calculate Koji the same way she had calculated the Scarlet King, but now it felt completely pointless.
"What else are you still trying to scheme?"
Rukkhadevata tilted her head slightly. As expected, this Nabu just couldn't be honest.
"You're reading my mind again?"
Nabu was at a loss for words. That ability might have its limits, but with her strength being far below Rukkhadevata's, she simply had no way to resist it.
"Rukkhadevata, this Flower Goddess just loves to stir things up. How about I kill her?" Koji went on with the motion of drawing his sword.
Don't worry, if he did it, it would be over very quickly.
"No!"
Nabu shook her head, her vivid red hair whipping through the air. Having already experienced the agony of death once, she really did not want to go through it a second time.
"I'll keep an eye on her. As long as she's within the range of the World Tree, she has nowhere to hide."
Rukkhadevata shook her head. If Nabu could be properly disciplined, there was still a chance to steer her back onto the right path.
As for how to "discipline" her, the Akasha terminals had plenty of information. She had to admit, humans were very inventive.
Things like little whips and the like all came with extremely detailed tutorials.
She would definitely have to adjust the filtering later. Children absolutely could not be allowed to see that kind of material.
Nabu couldn't help shivering. She had the distinct feeling Rukkhadevata was thinking about something bad.
If she had known it would turn out like this, she never would have wanted to be resurrected.
Couldn't there be a little more trust between god and god?
"No. After what you did back then, you still want me to trust you like I used to?" Rukkhadevata said bluntly. A normal god would never have thought of calling down Forbidden Knowledge.
"Can you stop reading my thoughts?" Nabu said helplessly.
Having everything she thought instantly exposed made her feel like she didn't have any private little secrets left at all.
"We'll see how you behave. Since you're alive again, stop thinking about those things. If you really want to charge up to Celestia someday, I can have Koji send you up." Rukkhadevata shook her head.
Koji was standing to the side, shaking his head as well.
"N-no need…"
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]