Beryl was talking with a bishop from the church of Arion when he spotted his older sister, Amber, walking the the hall toward him.
He promptly finished his conversation with the bishop before confronting his sister.
"What do you want?!" He hissed, his anger rising just from being in her presence.
"What? Can I not see my dear little brother anymore? I’m gonna cry." Amber acted as if she were sad, wiping away fake tears, which only angered Beryl even more.
"Cut the crap! I’m not in the mood for your games! If you don’t have anything to say, then I’m leaving. I can’t stand being around you."
"What were you talking about with that bishop? Planning something? An attack, maybe?" She was gauging him, seeing what words triggered a reaction, and once done, she would make her next move.
"Fuck off. I don’t need to tell you anything." He stormed off, turning his back on his sister.
"Ahh, I get it. You’re planning on attacking Father during his celebration."
It was subtle, but noticeable. Beryl’s body shifted slightly once Amber spoke those words, and she saw it.
She didn’t know if that was his plan or if he was simply thinking about going that route, but now, she had to plant the seed.
"Only an idiot would attack during the party, as that day will be the most secure with the amount of guards that will be present. Well, then again, you’re an idiot, so I wouldn’t put it past you. I hope you’re smarter than that, though, little brother."
"You think I don’t know that?" He growled
This time, Amber got in his face, looking up at him as she spoke venom from her mouth. "I think you don’t know anything. You’re a fool, an idiot, a puppet for the church. Even your own family has to hold your hand because of how stupid you are. The only reason why you aren’t grouped in with that useless little sister of ours is because you actually have value. Not value in your intellect or talent, but value in your ability to claim the throne rightfully, unlike our bastard sister."
Amber stepped back as her job was now done. If he decided to attack during the party, then that would be great for her. If not, she’ll still have him take the fall. Even if her people failed in killing the king, Beryl’s faction would take the blame. It was a win-win situation for her.
"I’ll take my leave now. See you around, little brother."
She left Beryl standing there in his own thoughts. He was angry, so angry that he wanted to kill her right then and there, but held himself back.
’I’ll fucking kill her once I get the chance! No, I’ll impsison her and turn her into a whore for the army to use and have her get raped every day until she dies!’
Back in Amber’s room, she informed her people about the next phase in her plan.
"On the day of the celebration, we’ll weaken my sibling’s forces when I give the signal. We don’t need to completely destroy them, just weaken them to the point where it will be difficult for them to make a proper counterattack. I’m sure they’re thinking the same, so be prepared for any resistance. We will win and I’ll be Queen of this land."
"Are you ready?" Zion asked his mother as she sat in the lotus position in the training hall.
"Is it really that painful?" Zaleena asked as she was about to undergo bone reconstruction.
"Yes, it sucked. You’re a transcendent, so you have a higher pain tolerance compared to me, so it might not be as painful, but it might still hurt a lot."
"And I just have to remove the impurities from my bones?"
Zion nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. It should be the same process for body reconstruction as well, but it will be your organs instead. As for Body Transformation, I have no fucking clue. I think you need to reach enlightenment for that or something."
Zaleena took a deep breath and started the process. She willed the mana in her bones to push out the gunk that contaminated it. She pushed it out of the bones that made up her arm, and they shattered once the process was complete. Then, almost instantly, her bones restructured.
Zion could see his mother gritting her teeth, for now, and sweat dripping down her face. She was taking it well, better than he had, and was even faster than he was as well.
Around an hour later, she had completed the bone reconstruction process, but for some reason, she didn’t stop.
Now Zion started to get worried. He was tracking her bone reconstruction process by using Tessa’s X-Ray vision mode, and he knew when she completed the reconstruction. But she kept going even after she finished. "Mom? Are you okay? You can stop now."
He wanted to help, but any sudden movements to her body could cause her to go into mana backlash, which was a risk he wasn’t willing to take.
Then Zion noticed it, blood dripping down his mother’s mouth.
Zion panicked, trying to figure out what was happening to her. There was no way he was letting his mother die on his watch.
He activated his Apostle form and called Aryah to help him heal his mother, but before they could, Tessa told him what was happening.
[She’s undergoing Body Transformation. I just saw one of her organs rupture, then reform.]
"What?! Why? She doesn’t need to take these kinds of risks! I haven’t even tested this stage yet!" Zion was now biting his nails as he paced around the room.
Luna happened to hear him yell and walk in with their daughter, which calmed him down significantly.
Stella googoo’d and gaga’d in Zion’s arms, which made his heart melt, but still, he worried for his mother.
After another hour, she completed Body Reconstruction. It was weird seeing his mother literally skinless for a bit, but everything worked out just fine.
"Finally, she’s finished-" Zion’s speech was cut off when he noticed cracks on his mother’s skin. This wasn’t a part of Body Reconstruction, but something else, the next stage.
Zaleena started the process of Body Transformation, and Zion rushed Luna and Stella out of the training room.
"We need to get as far away from her as possible because if my memory serves me correctly-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Zion placed a barrier over his family, shielding them from the devastating explosion that completely blew up the training hall. Thankfully, the house was still intact and only the training hall and the close vicinity were affected.