The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns Chapter 293: The Next Morning

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Thanks to the Authority of Sloth, I was able to genuinely sleep, and it felt amazing. It had been… perhaps seven thousand years since I actually slept and didn’t simply close my eyes and meditate. Genuine sleep, where my consciousness completely shuts down, is nonexistent when you ascend to my level.

Perhaps most beings at my level would never really bother. That Dark Storm Dragon, for example, has probably never slept to begin with, and the other Venerables never cared about sleeping or thought it was a waste of time as well.

But as someone who was a simple, mere human in a modern society, sleeping was a thing I always looked forward to after a tiring day at the office. Ah yes, I used to work in a printing company, inside an office. Sometimes my shifts extended for a while, and my boss was abusive, knowing full well that I couldn’t easily find another job in those days. So he would tell me to take extra hours to keep my job.

It was a very shitty thing, but I did it to maintain my family back then. My little sister was still a baby who was growing up, and my mom already worked cleaning apartments, but it didn’t earn her enough to support all three of us.

Sleeping was what I enjoyed the most sometimes—just shutting down my brain and not thinking about anything, just relaxing. The bad thing was that my dreams were usually… well, I don’t remember them, so when I woke up, it felt like no time at all had passed. Very annoying.

But the refreshing feeling of having slept? Yeah, that’s a wonderful thing. And finally, as I woke up this morning while hearing the birds chirping, lazily and sleepily, I felt so much bliss.

These “flaws” that most people would think are unnecessary for humans are the things I often crave the most. I felt so nice and refreshed; my whole mood improved. The worries I had before, the usual paranoia I kept hidden, were almost gone.

Wow, sleeping helps so much with your mental state—I can’t believe it. Maybe that’s why I was going insane, or, well, it was part of it. I’ll forever be grateful to Belphegor for giving me such an incredible gift, and I won’t let anybody take this away from me.

Looking at Urbosa and Merkite cuddling with me, I wanted to sleep some more with them. I caressed their cute, fluffy chests and bellies, squished the little belly rolls they had, then kissed their cute snouts before slowly crawling out of bed.

Then I looked at Fiery Hair, who was grabbing a big cushion while biting it as if it were meat. I walked to her side and kissed her forehead; she slept like a baby.

And lastly, Mursha. She slept with her legs spread out, her arms all over the place, and her mouth open, snoring slightly loudly. Indeed, this is how strong orc warrior women sleep, haha. She’s cute.

I kissed her nose as she groaned lightly and closed her mouth. Then I kissed her lips sneakily, and she slowly cuddled back into bed in a better position. They were still sleepy—last night was a bit… well, they were a bit jealous of me giving so much time to Bloodclaw, so it makes sense they became more intense and demanding. That tired them out a lot.

While looking out the window from my palace room, hearing the birds singing and feeling the cold wind over my face, I felt at ease. We have yet to finish our space trip, but I’m sure we can get it done by today. It was a lot of fun. Hell, I’m willing to admit that even the card duel was fun.

Oh right, about the cards themselves: once Belphegor died, I was able to keep them all—the two decks we had. As I checked his deck, I realized just how ridiculously strong it was, but at the same time, he barely had utility cards. Hmm, it makes sense why he lost against a novice in the game now.

What am I going to do with these? I don’t know, but they seem strong. I’m not going to do the whole duel thing again, probably… unless we could use them as recreational activities just for fun or sport. Now that Belphegor is dead, I doubt they’ll be connected to him, so they’ve become safer to use while still keeping their power.

“There you are.”

I looked at a particular card among them: the Volcanic Dragon Card. I had somehow grown attached to this guy, and this attachment drove me to see these cards as more than just cards. They were special, magical, and demonic artifacts with souls and demonic power imbued into them, capable of temporarily summoning entities into reality. When they die, they simply return to the cards and can be summoned again once a new duel begins.

Now that Belphegor is dead, though, I feel a deeper connection to them somehow, as if I’ve now become the ruler of this card game. I remember that Djet said something about them having already invaded and conquered one parallel Earth where people used these cards. They ended up capturing them, and they probably have them as prisoners to squeeze out all the info.

It’s probable that more of these Egyptians will use these cards, so I’d better keep these around just in case they try something with them. And they most likely have no idea I am now the “owner” of the game, as I seem to have authority over them once I stole Belphegor’s Authority of Sloth after his death.

“What should I do now?”

These cards possess incredible potential, and I thought they could be used not just for duels but as special relics to bring forth powerful soldiers for battle. Although, as they are, they aren’t too useful due to the game limitations they possess. My first step would be to modify these cards so they can be used outside of duels and also create my own, where I can imbue them with other souls or powers for my own utility or that of my family or even as tools for my disciples who will protect Earth.

“Let’s see…”

I walked outside my room, holding the card of the Volcanic Dragon, and quickly took out the Elixir of Youth Card. Imbuing them with demonic power, I was able to exert the Authority of Sloth over them.

Zap, zap…! ZAP!

They let out electricity as I gained control over them beyond the duels, but it wasn’t something I could do en masse, unfortunately.

But it was good enough.

Once in my garden, I summoned the Volcanic Dragon with the Elixir of Youth effect applied to him right away.

FLUOSH!

“Raaaarrrr!”

And as digital pixels, demonic energy, and my heavenly ki converged together, an adorable little, red-scaled dragon appeared.

The Baby Fire Dragon!

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