Ash appeared in the heart of the Original Havenâa wide, open field where the ground felt soft and welcoming beneath his bare feet, as if the realm itself was greeting him.
The endless twilight auroras brushed the sky in broad rose-gold sweeps, while distant crystal spires shimmered like quiet guardians.
The air was filled with the delicate, sweet fragrance of night-blooming flowers that had been waiting fifty thousand years for this moment.
He stood thereâseven feet tall, alabaster skin flawless and luminous under the auroras, long white hair cascading like moonlight made solid, four black horns curving elegantly from his brow, golden eyes ringed with nine perfect black circles gazing out with quiet, infinite depth.
The black infinity earrings glimmered faintly in the light, while the black-and-gold tattoos across his lean, compact frame shifted subtly, their ancient script pulsing with a quiet, unspoken power.
The group had of course been teleported right along with him as well.
They had gathered in a loose circle on the field. And like anyone else would be... they were all stunned by his new look. Yet, their longing for him far exceeded his physical appearance.
Niaâs flames flared brighterâher void-black sun mark pulsing as she stepped forward first, eyes wide with shock and something deeper.... her obsessive love that she held for only one person.
"Ashy..." she whispered, her voice cracking just slightly as she reached out, fingertips grazing his alabaster skin as though afraid he might retreat into seclusion again.
Tearsârare for herâshimmered in her eyes. "Hmph! I missed you way too much... I even tortured those vampires out of boredom," she muttered, burying her face against his chest.
In that moment, she looked nothing like the Obsidian Devourer, and if it werenât for the fact that the whole group wasnât doing too well emotionally, she wouldâve been teased endlessly.
Vaeloria followedâsword hand trembling slightly as she placed it over her heart, white hair catching the auroras, eyes gleaming with quiet awe at his new form.
"Ash..." she breathed, voice steady but thick with emotion that she tried her best to hide...
"You just keep--- Ah!"
She was doing fine until Ash walked over, holding Nia in his arms, and pulled the Sword Maiden into the embrace too... making her melt instantly.
She nestled in close, sharing the man with Nia, and in a rare momentâperhaps only possible nowâshe let her sword fall.
Seris sat up straighterâplatform dissolving as she stood, eyes sparkling with unshed tears and delight. "How unfair. Completely unfair. I missed you too, you idiot!" She said as she appeared instantly in the whatever space that remained.
She wasnât the only one.
One by one, each woman appeared, smothering Ash with endless longing, and through it all he could do nothing but smile.
He lay thereâyes, layâbecause with so many women around, staying grounded just wasnât an option.
At the moment, he was only seven feet tall, while each of them stood well over six-foot-five. So, though he could have stayed as he was, he chose instead to grow to hundreds of feet, giving each woman plenty of space to settle without hassle.
All he wanted now was peace and time with his closest companions.
The men knew better than to sit on him, so they floated nearby, trading stories from the past 5,000 years.
From terrorizing the multiverse to personal adventures like Nia meeting the Asuras, Vaeloria and Seris returning to the old Sect, and so much moreâit was all something Ash relished.
With time set to flow at 100x, they had plenty of moments to catch up.
After decades of reconnecting as a family, Ash could no longer hold back his desires. And as if on cue, Creara appeared and spoke.
"Master, the finishing touches have all been added."
Ash smiled and then he stood up as he carefully set each woman down and then shrank back down.
"The finishing touches?" Celeste asked as she looked through her golden blindfolds.
"Exactly, itâs time we see the Sacred Dimension."
----
In his multiverse container, there was one seed Ash had never hurried to complete.
There was good reason for thatâchief among them, the seed held the essence of the unnamed, pure âisnessâ itself.
He also didnât want to rush a vision for it, only for it to become useless in a few thousand years.
Now, out of seclusion, it was finally time to hit the ground running in every sense.
Still, he knew there were certain things that demanded his time first... like fatherhood. And that, in the end, played a major role in what this seed became.
It was no world as it was originally meant to be.
The moment Ash said, "Itâs time we see the Sacred Dimension," reality folded around them with a soft, almost contented sigh.
They didnât walk through a portalâthey were just there.
They arrived in a sub-dimension that was connected to his very own Lower Dimension.
It unfolded around them like a dream made solidâa realm of impossible scale, equal in vastness to the Multiversal Container itself yet utterly detached from any timeline, any continuum, any external flow of existence.
Here, time didnât moveâit lingered. Moments could stretch on forever or shrink into a single heartbeat, all at the whim of its master.
At the center, the palace hovered.
It wasnât builtâit simply was.
A massive palace of rose-gold crystal and black adamant stood with an architecture that defied all logic.
Its spires curved inward yet stretched outward, its halls winding into infinity, and its walls glowing softly as if alive.
Floating in an infinite void of perfect darkness, it was lit only by the soft glow of auroras gliding across its surfaceâauroras shimmering with every hue of every feeling Ashâs companions had ever experienced.
From the palace stretched countless cosmic roadsâshimmering bridges of starlight reaching into the dark, each leading to a private universe crafted for one of his beloved.
Niaâs lay at the end of a path of crimson flameârealms of endless fire, devouring voids, and storms where creation and destruction wove together in eternal balance.
Vaeloriaâs glowed with silver moonlightâlands of flawless sword concepts, lunar seas, and blade-carved mountains where every strike rang like poetry. Sonnaâs was a gentle symphonyâuniverses where melody shaped reality, lullabies could soothe stars or shatter galaxies.
Summerâs was silent crimsonâdomains of absolute quiet, blood oceans reflecting nothing, where silence was both weapon and comfort. Katherineâs throbbed with living bloodâworlds of crimson rivers, binding chains, and loyalty etched into every drop.
Serisâs overflowed with summoned infinitiesârealms of endless legions, conceptual summons, and battlefields without end. Ravenâs was hollow nightâlands of perfect emptiness, where devotion filled the void and shadows obeyed without question.
And so onâeach road leading to a universe perfectly attuned to its mistress, infinite in scope, intimate in design.
The group stood on the grand terrace of the palace, warm marble under their bare feet, the endless void unfolding around them.
Ashâs gaze lingered on the women.
"Get ready," he murmured, his voice low and warm, heavy with fifty thousand years of yearning.
"Weâve got datesâone by one. Iâve been away too long. So, we have twenty thousand years here, just us."
The womenâs eyes litâtears, smiles, possessive joy.
He turned to the menâThalion, Kael, Caelanâsmile fond.
"You three... do whatever you please. Explore. Train. Relax. Iâll be busy for the next twenty thousand years."
Kael grinned. "Got it, boss."
Caelan chuckled. "When youâre back, weâve got to destroy some universes, big brother."
Thalion gave a small nod. "Enjoy your time."
The men drifted apartâeach heading toward their own path, their own pursuits.
And the women all scurried off to each prepare themselves.
----
[A/N: I wonât be showing every single R-18 scene, as thereâs still plenty left to cover outside. However, before leaving the Lower Dimension, there will be a good number of R-18 Chapters for those who are interested.]