Interstellar Age

Erich stared at Ayumi in disbelief. She had somehow suddenly transformed into a god-like creature. Or at least in terms of the power she wielded. After all, it was clear that Ayumi’s rebirth had been fueled by the stars themselves.

But the girl herself hadn’t the slightest clue of what she had become, or why her royal aunt was kowtowing in front of her. In fact, she was quick to ask Yumi just what was happening to her, and how she had gotten to the royal spring.

“Aunt Yumi? Why am I here? What happened? Why are you bowing before me?”

Yumi’s deposition towards her great niece had changed drastically upon the girl’s Metamorphoses. In fact, there was a hint of reverence in her voice as she spoke to the young woman.

“Ayumi… My dear niece… You have awakened the ancient bloodline and ascended…. You are no longer technically an Oni, though you may still look like us. You are a cosmic being of pure energy… Entire fleets can be wiped out of existence with a mere flick of your fingers.

You can even traverse space itself without the need for a spaceship, or a space suit…”

Ayumi, of course, looked at her aunt with a flabbergasted expression on her otherwise pretty face, which was emphasized by a brief sound of confusion.

“Huh?”

Yumi sat Erich and Ayumi down, and spoke about a long forgotten age, and a race so old that even the Elven Empire of the Primeval age had fragmented records of them. The Oni were just a young race at the time, barely even evolved to their current physical standards.

But one of these so called “Star Gods” had settled on the world, and took an Oni woman as her husband. It was for this reason that the Oni had been a matriarchal society for most of their history as a species.

It was only until recently, the past 5,000 years or so, that the Oni shifted from having a reigning Empress to a reigning emperor. A practice that continued until this day. Evidently, the ancient star gods, who were once the most powerful beings in existence, were driven to extinction by the ancient Elves in a war that would create the foundation of the current galactic society.

But a part of their blood line lived on with in the Kondo Dynasty, waiting millions of years to be reawakened. Only display traces of it every few generations where one child would be born with the unique indigo hair and amber eyes that Ayumi had.

Few still believed in the ancient tales, and even Yumi had not taken them seriously until the moment Erich announced what had happened to Ayumi. This is why, despite there being three of such rare individuals being born within two generations, no great effort was made by the Kondo dynasty to fully awaken the bloodline.

This was, of course, a lot of information for both Erich and Ayumi to take in. Regardless of whether or not it was true, Ayumi had definitely undergone a powerful transformation, and could even sense the energy of the stars flowing within her veins.

Ultimately, there was not much to be done about this, and Erich had no idea how to make use of these powers, other than to create a safe environment for Ayumi to test them in, which would take time.

After all, if she could fully control her new terrifying powers, he would gain a dangerous weapon to be wielded against the Naraku. Not that Erich would ever actually ask Ayumi to put herself in such a risky situation.

Still, if all else failed, Ayumi could theoretically wreak havoc on the Naraku fleets assuming what Yumi said was true. With this in mind, the couple returned home, and Tia began constructing a testing facility in the void of space for Ayumi to gain proper control of her newfound powers.

Of course, once Erich and Tia were alone, the artificial intelligence was quick to ask him about what he thought about Ayumi’s new powers.

“Master, you should be made aware that there is no mention of these star gods in Elven records. Instead, they go by another name, and are scarcely mentioned, but when they are, terror surrounds them.

The elves call them Star Vampires, because they literally leach the power from stars to sustain themselves. Yumi doesn’t realize this, but when Ayumi underwent her transformation, she aged the star of the Oni Homeworld by millions of years.

In her early stages of development as a Star Vampire, Ayumi will have to traverse across the galaxy, leeching off the energy of thousands of stars. And later, after she is fully developed, she will have to do so once every million years.

What has been unleashed upon the galaxy is not a goddess, but a devil of the highest order. I don’t mean to sound…. Harsh, but Master you really should put the girl out of her misery before she ends up destroying everything she loves, including you, and your daughter.”

This statement naturally angered Erich as he raised his voice with Tia for the first time since they had met. An action which did not sit well with the yandere AI.

“You want me to kill Ayumi? Are you mad, Tia? First off, even if I wanted to do something so horrible, I haven’t had the slightest idea how. And I doubt you do either if records are so fragmented about what she has become.

Second, the mere notion that I would ever bring harm to one of my loved ones, even if it is for the greater good of the galaxy… It’s.. It’s….”

Erich couldn’t bring himself to say it, because he had for many many years pondered what he would do if forced into a situation to choose between the safety of the Empire or the life of a loved one.

And of course, Tia finished his words for him, in a way that was deeply chilling to the bone.

“It’s completely logical and rational, like the way you were raised to behave. What is the life of one woman in comparison to the trillions of your people? What is the life of Ayumi in comparison to yourself, or the daughter the two of you brought into this world?

I’m not going to force you to do anything, Master, but I want you to be aware of the dangers that Ayumi now represents to everything you have built, and everything you hold dear. And if the time comes when action needs to be taken to ensure your survival, please do not hate me if I do what you cannot.

That is all I have to say on the matter. I truly hope that I am wrong about this, and that this is merely Elven propaganda made with the intent to demonize an ancient enemy, and to justify a genocide. But usually such records are typically not written with such… horror…. I will leave you to your thoughts, master…”

With this said, Tia disappeared, not willing to disturb Erich as he pondered about what she had said. This was definitely a moral dilemma, one which Erich hoped he would never have to act upon.

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