SON OF THE HERO KING

"So, you are sure that you don\'t want me to carry you?"

"No thanks. The last time you carried me around I nearly vomited out all my insides. Never again!"

Isis immediately waved her hands in a quick refusal. Adventuring with Sol in the desert had been a rollercoaster of emotions and sensations for her. She was not willing to experience the bitter parts of it again, not now at least.

"Your loss then."

"Hey! Don\'t you dare laugh over there! It was a seriously traumatizing experience for me, you know!?"

Sol fought hard to keep the wide and hearty smile, that was constantly tugging at his lips, from showing up.

It was quite the hard fight for him, possibly one of the hardest of his life even, that sadly ended in his utter loss.

"Pfft! Hahaha!"

"I said don\'t laugh, you idiot!"

Isis shouted out loud and began chasing him all around in the sky, fleeting across its vast borders to catch the troublesome fellow, while Sol continued to dodge all her attempts to catch him with polished ease…

In the end, she could only give up with a tired huff and fly towards the Tower all alone, leaving Sol behind.

"Haha. Don\'t be mad, Is…"

"Blehhh!!"

Isis stuck her tongue out at him in an attempt to mock him, trying to raise his ire just like he did to her, but she had underestimated Sol\'s current speed after his most recent power-up.

By the time she had retracted her tongue, she felt herself being hugged tightly in Sol\'s strong and warm arms. Immediately following that sensation of warmth was a sense of searing warm heat that spread all throughout her body when she felt Sol\'s hot lips land on hers.

Isis tried to fight back instinctively, but there was nothing she could do to fight against his strong and demanding kiss that wouldn\'t budge without having what it desired— her.

Their lips mashed against each other, their tongues fought as they tried to dominate the other throughout the make-out session.

But once again, Isis could only surrender to Sol\'s passion. What could she do? His burning passion was just incomparable against her adamant stubbornness…

When the two of them finally separated, their faces still lay close to each other\'s. Sol just smirked, seeing the dazed expression etched on Isis\' flawless face.

"Still mad, my love?"

"I…"

Sol didn\'t wait for her to answer before placing another kiss on those plump and fiery crimson lips of hers, then a third and a fourth, and so on…

In the end, Isis was left breathless as she continued to hug Sol even after their kiss ended.

"This… This is cheating. Cheating I tell you…"

This was all she could say as she buried her head in his neck, too embarrassed to show how red her face had currently become due to all his teasing and shenanigans.

To her cry of outrage, Sol merely answered with his usual smile and replied with a subtle teasing note, "Cheating is sometimes a necessity."

"Huff."

Isis snorted before she began laughing lightly at the teasing that still continued.

"Dork."

"Well, as long as I am your Dork, it\'s fine, isn\'t it?"

"Ugh! You two make me want to barf for days. Stop with the rainbow stuff and sweet words and move on already."

"Father!?"

Isis was shocked and hurriedly pushed Sol away, but Sol was having none of that.

Tightening his embrace, he turned around to greet the intruder that intruded upon their quality time together— Anubis…

"Hello, father-in-law."

Sol gave Anubis the respect he deserved from him. Even though the two of them could now be loosely called friends to some extent, it didn\'t change the fact that Anubis was still his father-in-law first and foremost.

"Stop that bull crap. I feel like some fancy noble. Just call me Anubis."

Sol tilted his head to the right, not understanding what he was trying to insinuate. From the little he knew about his father-in-law, Anubis was originally the son of the Demon King when he was still a mortal.

Which could mean only one thing… That he was a royalty belonging to the land of demons.

Why then speak like that?

Of course, he only thought about it in his mind and didn\'t voice his thoughts out loud. Sol had enough know-hows about the world already that he could avoid asking useless questions that could only make the situation tenser.

Giving a look toward Isis who was obviously doing absolutely everything ok her being to avoid meeting his eyes, a lopsided smirk emerged on Anubis\' lips. Her daughter could really be too cute sometimes…

"I hope you didn\'t forget our little chat there, dear daughter of mine."

From the way she fidgeted, he was sure that she did not forget in the slightest.

\'Hah. Teasing my cute Tsundere daughter is really fun, all things considered. But, doing so to my wife is even better. Nothing can compare! Sorry daughter, your mom is just far cuter than you…\'

Anubis thought mischievously as he ignored how Sol was hugging Isis. He did not mind these public displays of affection and in fact, even welcomed them.

This proved that at least for now, the couple was doing well and this was all that mattered to him. Sol was as close to the perfect son-in-law as he could possibly envision. So, these small moments that showcased their strong bond were all the more welcome to him.

“Well, shall we go, then? It\'s about time that they arrived…”

There was one reason why the three of them were flying in the same direction.

Nephthys and Nefertiti were coming and the three of them would be there to welcome them. It was going to be a joyous reunion for all the parties concerned…

———

[Phoenix Realm]

‘Finally, my torture is about to end.’

Glancing back at the Phoenix territory, the scene of Gabriel, Nephthys, and Nefertiti standing together in the same place they did with Sol, Nent, and Isis when those three left could be seen by one\'s watchful eyes.

Nefertiti was so excited that joy could literally be seen oozing out from her every pore.

Her wait had been torturous, but soon it would be completely rewarded, she was sure of it. She just had to hold on for a little bit more and everything would be alright.

Looking at the girl that was normally the incarnation of grace and poise fidgeting like a drug junky that was suffering from withdrawal symptoms, Gabriel couldn’t help but wonder just what kind of magic Sol casted on her.

At the same time, she knew she made the right decision in booting him out of her territory as fast as possible, or the result might have been pretty drastic for her to recover.

‘Well, not like my daughter is any better.’

Gabriel fought the urge to facepalm herself.

After all, while Nephthys was trying to look indifferent, the eagerness that was practically slapped all over her face was impossible for one to miss. If she had a tail, Gabriel was sure that Nephthys’s tail would be wagging so fast that it couldn\'t even be seen by ordinary eyes right now.

The two women were like little loyal puppies about to meet their owners.

‘How shameful!! Haiyaahhh!’

Her smile was bitter but still, she was happy that they could be reunited with their loves.

Of course… There was one thing she wanted to be sure of before opening the gate.

“Nefertiti… Will you come back? Or… Is it time for farewell already?”

Nefertiti was surprised at suddenly being called. Her interactions with Gabriel had been few and far between.

In fact, Gabriel made a point to generally avoid Nent\'s children. Nefertiti knew that it was because Gabriel was uncomfortable with the reason behind their birth.

But in Nefertiti’s opinion, this was pure sophistry mixed with hypocrisy.

Divine Beasts had the ability to give birth through energy separation for the simple reason that they were weapons that needed to be created fast.

Gabriel had given birth to children and grandchildren perfectly knowing that from the moment they were born, their Fate was to become weapons of mass destruction. Furthermore, none of those children ever had a choice in the matter.

In Nent\'s case, while Nent had her own selfish goals, she had at least given the option to her progeny. She had never imposed her belief on anyone nor forced them on anything.

If the two were evil, at least Nent was a lesser evil, in her opinion.

Hiding the distaste from her voice and expression, Nefertiti gave a succinct answer,

“It will depend on my Lord\'s will.”

Nefertiti made no plan in hiding who she considered as her Lord and it was certainly not Gabriel nor even the goddesses.

“Haha…”

All Gabriel could do was give a dry laugh at the clear-cut response.

‘Seriously. Did he use some kind of mind manipulation power on her?’

This went well past the level of creepiness and simply crept into the territory of a full blown mind-blowing phenomenon.

What she had seen in Nefertiti\'s room had been rather disturbing and shocking, to say the least.

Indeed, it was the quiet ones who were the most dangerous.

Since she could feel the distance Nefertiti was putting by drawing a line on the sand, Gabriel did not insist on continuing the conversation.

She understood very well that their relationship was not that close.

This was a very common sight in the Astral realm between the Divine beasts.

Gabriel was just one of the better ones. But not by much it seems. Such was the cruel fate of these realms…

———

(AN: Here is the second bonus chapter promised.)

(AN: Welp. Two phoenixes are incoming. Time for some summer fun at the beach. Even though it’s currently winter. At least soon I will be writing my third Christmas chapter. I always laugh when I realize Anubis/Isis/Nephthys is basically the only truly functional parent-child dynamic I created in 300+ chapters.

I am starting to wonder if I am projecting my experiences in this story.).