The divine light faded, and the world came rushing back.
Stone walls. Moonlit banners. The scent of mythic incense and fresh stormwater. Shin stood once more at the heart of his throne room, the divine glyphs beneath his boots slowly dimming, as if sighing in exhausted reverence. The celestial hush of the temple was gone, replaced by the living, breathing pulse of his realm—soldiers shifting, wards humming, lives moving beyond the stone.
Yet the weight of it all—the truth, the revelation, the cost—remained. It pressed into his bones, heavy and unrelenting.
His wives stood nearer than before, instinctively drawn to him. Raven's fingers brushed his sleeve, a silent tether between them. Serafall clutched Grayfia's hand tightly, centuries of distance unraveling between their joined palms. Elise's crimson eyes burned with a heat that was both wary and protective, Velmoria's blood gift stirring ancient instincts deep within his soul.
They were home. But the world had changed forever.
["Dimensional coordinates re-synced,"] Heart's voice pulsed through Shin's mind, calm and clinical. ["We've returned to the Kingdom of Legends. Zero anomalies detected… thus far."]
Shin exhaled slowly, surveying his throne room as if seeing it for the first time.
"This peace," he murmured, his voice carrying more weight than before, "feels like the eye of something much bigger."
Lightning flickered across Lara's eyes as she stepped forward, her cloak crackling. "Then we sharpen our blades while it lasts."
Velzard's voice followed, smooth and glacial. "And we prepare to break what dares to follow."
From the deeper shadows near the royal dais, Diana emerged—arms crossed, her Amazonian presence commanding the room without a word. "You've stepped into the gods' line of fire, Shin. We need plans. Defense. Offense. Trade. Intelligence. Every front reinforced."
"I know," Shin said, steady and firm. "I want it all underway tonight."
He turned to Heart's hovering form, the living glyphs around her already adapting to his orders.
The torchlight guttered as Heart's sigils faded, leaving only pale moonbeams to caress the chamber's stones. Around them, the palace settled. Servants moved quietly to clear the hall, understanding this was a night for sovereigns and soldiers.
In a secluded alcove, by a fountain carved from pure starlight crystal, Serafall and Grayfia lingered, separated from the greater tension yet drawn together by older wounds.
Grayfia perched on the fountain's edge, rigid as ever, her posture perfect and cold. Serafall dropped beside her without ceremony, making the water splash as she huffed.
"You're stiff," Serafall muttered.
Grayfia blinked, confused. "I am always this way."
"Exactly," Serafall said, throwing up her hands. "You're always this way. Like you're still bracing for a sword in the back. You don't have to anymore."
Grayfia turned her gaze down to her gloved hands, almost alien to her own body. "I… do not know how to be anything else. I lived centuries behind a mask. Cold. Distant. Controlled."
Serafall's voice softened as she leaned in. "You were never just a servant. Never just a chess piece. You were—are—my sister. My heart."
Grayfia's hands trembled. "I thought you moved on. I thought… you found peace without me."
"I didn't find peace," Serafall whispered fiercely. "I found Shin. I found my future. But Grayfia… you were always my anchor."
Silence stretched between them, heavy and trembling.
"You don't have to serve anymore," Serafall said. "You can live."
Grayfia pressed her forehead to Serafall's shoulder, her whisper raw and broken. "Then… teach me."
Serafall hugged her tightly, rocking them gently. "With pleasure."
⸻
Later, beneath the flowering canopy of the moonblossom trees in the royal gardens, Shin gathered with his wives—no titles, no thrones, only hearts worn bare under the stars.
Raven sat beside him, knees hugged to her chest, her midnight cloak wrapped tightly around her slender form. Around them lounged Lulu, Boa, Leone, Elise, Leona, and Nina, a loose circle of family drawn by gravity deeper than blood.
Raven tilted her head back to the stars, her voice almost a ghost on the breeze.
"I feel… fractured," she said. "Like my whole life, I knew something was missing. A hollow space inside me." She hugged her knees tighter. "Now that I know the truth… I don't know how to fill it."
Shin reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear with infinite tenderness.
"You endure," he said softly. "Then you rise."
Nina, sprawled lazily across the grass, smirked. "That bastard Trigon's going to hate what's coming."
"Good," Boa said, her voice sharp and silk-wrapped steel. "Let him suffer. He chained you to a fate you never wanted. Now you get to forge your own."
Raven's eyes softened, darting uncertainly across the faces around her.
"…Family," she whispered, tasting the word like it was foreign.
She looked down, voice almost too soft to hear. "The only one I ever… called sister was Starfire. She was the only light when everything else was darkness."
The memory wrapped around her like mist. Starfire's laughter. Her kindness. Her stubborn love.
Raven looked up again, her violet eyes shining with a vulnerable defiance. "I never thought I'd have… more."
"You have us," Leone said, her smile radiant as moonrise.
"No demon or god or past version of yourself can take that away," Elise added, fierce and certain.
Leona rested a gentle hand on Raven's arm. "You carry darkness, Raven. So do we. And we choose to carry yours, too."
A shaky breath escaped Raven's lips. She turned her gaze back to Shin, searching for something, maybe absolution.
"You're not afraid of me?" she asked.
Shin met her gaze without flinching, his voice like bedrock. "You're Raven. My wife. My storm."
Then, with a crooked grin: "And if the gods didn't want me collecting dangerous, beautiful women with tragic backstories, they should've made better rules."
Lulu snorted. Nina burst out laughing. Even Elise chuckled, a sound like a sword scraping home.
Raven stared at him, and—for the first time in longer than she could remember—smiled. A small, real smile, fierce and bright.
She leaned in, resting her head against his shoulder.
"I think… I'm going to be okay."
"You are," Shin promised, wrapping his hand over hers.
And under the watchful gaze of a thousand stars, Raven finally believed him.
⸻
The Grand Pavilion thrummed with life.
Sweet smoke and savory spices curled into the air. Platters groaned under the weight of smoked ribs, golden cornbread, molten macaroni, and towers of buttered corn. Pitchers of sweet tea and lemonade dripped with condensation like the breath of the earth itself. The scent of apple pie laced the night, heavy with promise.
Laughter rang like bells through the warm air.
Shin sat at the heart of it all—flanked by wives, generals, and kin. Serafall devoured her third helping of mac and cheese, while Grayfia nursed a dainty portion with regal precision. Raven picked at a piece of cornbread, her shadowed eyes at peace. Leona and Diana battled silently over who could stack more ribs without collapsing their plates.
It was a moment stolen from time—a heartbeat of normalcy, golden and fragile.
But beyond the walls, the night trembled. And the aether whispered of war.
Shin rose slowly, setting down his fork. Conversation faltered, fading into silence.
"This won't be like the others," he said, his voice heavy as a drawn sword.
Every gaze turned toward him.
"The Seventh Wave is smarter. Stronger. Tonight, they come not as raiders, but as an army."
The warm air thickened with tension. Even the food's rich scents seemed to dim under the shadow of the coming storm.
"But they'll find no weakness here," Shin continued, voice like rolling thunder. "No fear. No surrender."
He lifted a glass of sweet tea, amber in the lantern light.
"To the blood we spill. To the family we defend."
Scáthach rose first, lifting her glass like a warrior queen. "To the slaughter."
Diana followed, her voice fierce. "To the unbroken."
Leona and Leone raised their glasses together, twin echoes of the moon. "To the Sovereign Flame."
Nina, mischievous grin wide, declared, "To the chaos they'll regret."
Finally, Raven lifted her cup, her voice a whisper that crackled like stormclouds.
"To the end of fear."
Their glasses clinked—a sound sharper than steel, louder than drums.
And beyond the citadel, the goblins gathered in the dark, drawn not by hunger…
But by the promise of their own destruction.
————————————————————
A/N
Please leave feedback on what you would like to see added to the story.
Thank you to mortuuspananda,jojolu, and everyone else for sending power stones.
Join my discord for we can discuss possible summons and bloodlines at https://discord.gg/vuPByfve
Thank you to Zachariah_Browing_2336 for giving the idea on how to place Themyscira and Amazon lily.
I will use The_myth_king idea and use the sekirei but I will do it as a twist.
I've started writing a new novel I haven't uploaded it yet. I want it to be as perfect as possible to be on par with this work or surpass it. I will still upload this work constantly.
See you in the next chapter