Jalen, Jaquan, and Lloyd returned to the Flare Palace. Lloyd was escorted to the quarters prepared for him and his family and placed under Tera's care to continue his recovery.
And after bidding his sons farewell, Jaquan returned to his residence, where his wife was busy attending to their children. While he assisted her, he gave her a concise account of the confrontation between Lloyd and his biological father, outlining the outcome with measured gravity. Then came the part that shifted her entire mood—Jaquan relayed that her father wished to meet with her.
Lara froze.
The fury she'd buried these past few years surged back. She hadn't forgiven him—not for trying to force her into marriage with that vile prince, nor for attempting to purge her unborn child. Her voice was sharp and resolute: she had no intention of seeing him. But Jaquan gently informed her that Jalen had already extended the invitation.
Lara didn't like it. But if her son had summoned her father to the palace, it had to be for a reason. So she chose to trust him.
Meanwhile, Jalen retreated to his quarters, where Rana greeted him with a warm embrace. Unlike his father, he offered no recounting of the events. He simply kissed his wife and spent the evening wrapped in the laughter and presence of their three radiant and very active children.
___
Three days later, Raiden arrived at Flare Palace. He was welcomed by Jalen, Simon, and Jana inside the grand hall, which shimmered with ceremonial light. But when Lara entered, the temperature seemed to drop. She wore a robe of crimson and gold, her aura radiant and commanding—like a storm held in restraint.
Raiden stood as she approached, his eyes flickering with emotion.
"Lara," he said softly.
She didn't smile. Jalen had told her he wanted to use her father's influence to strengthen the Flare State, but Lara couldn't mask the fury that still burned beneath her skin.
"You have a lot of nerve coming here."
"I know," Raiden replied. In the past he wouldn't have tolerated this daughter of his taking such a tone with him, but now he's no longer in a position where he can impose his will on her. That would be a huge mistake. Not to mention it would ruin what he's trying to accomplish here, which is to form a bond with Jalen. "I've made mistakes. I want to make amends."
Her voice was sharp, unyielding. "You tried to kill my son. You tried to control me. You treated me like a pawn."
Raiden bowed his head. "I was wrong. I see that now."
Lara stepped closer, her tone icy. "You don't get to erase the past with words. I'm not here to forgive you. I'm here to make sure you understand the pain you caused."
Raiden looked up, and for the first time, his eyes held something real—regret. "I do. And I want to change that."
She didn't believe him. But she granted him one thing—an audience with her children.
Moments later, Jaquan entered the hall alongside several palace maids, each cradling one of the younger boys: Jamir, Jamar, Larek, and Quan. Their eyes were wide with curiosity, their auras still tender and unformed, yet each carried the spark of lineage.
Jared, on the other hand, didn't need to be carried.
He floated in on his own, feet barely touching the polished marble floor. At three years old, he could walk, fly, or simply glide through space as he pleased.
When Raiden met Jared—the boy he once tried to eliminate—he was stunned. Jared's cultivation had already reached the peak of the Diamond Realm, his qi dense and refined. In Raiden's eyes, the realm itself was modest, but Jared was an anomaly. A realm typically attained by cultivators aged 150 and older… reached by a kid over three years old. It was a phenomenon.
The other four grandsons were remarkable in their own right, but Jared stood apart.
Raiden's voice cracked. "He's… incredible."
"Yes, he is," Lara replied, her anger still simmering. "They all are."
To her surprise, Jared floated into Raiden's arms after Jaquan introduced them, giggling with delight. The other children weren't so welcoming—they cried the moment Raiden tried to hold them. Which is expected since he was a stranger to them.
Eventually, Jaquan, Lara, and the children left, but before that, Raiden promised to spend more time with his grandchildren and work on his relationship with Lara. She snorted.
"If you want to repair anything," she said, "start by forging diplomatic ties with the Flare State."
Raiden agreed instantly. It was, after all, one of the reasons he'd come.
And as soon as his daughter and kids left, he proposed a formal alliance between the Crown Kingdom and the Flare State. As a gesture of goodwill, Raiden offered to fund a teleportation formation linking the two territories—reducing travel time to about a day.
Simon accepted. The formation would require vast spirit stones, high-tier tools, and a year of construction. Raiden pledged to cover every cost.
They also agreed to establish a formal trade system between the two kingdoms—exchanging natural cultivation resources, military cooperation, and strategic knowledge.
While the Flare State boasted greater martial strength, with multiple Sage Realm and Immortal Realm experts among its ranks, the Crown Kingdom held a different kind of power: resource abundance.
Its continent was richer, more stable, and far more conducive to cultivation than the Ruona continent. The spiritual density of its lands, the purity of its elemental veins, and the natural formations scattered across its terrain made it a haven for growth. For the cultivators of the Flare State—whether young prodigies or veterans long stagnant in their realms—this alliance offered something invaluable: access to an environment that could break bottlenecks and reignite progress.
___
Lloyd's strength returned to full after two months of focused cultivation. He spent two days with his children and family—one of them solely with Jalen—before departing for the Great Wave Continent with Tera at his side. His other baby mothers remained as planned, raising their children while deepening their cultivation, each determined to ascend and shape the legacy now entrusted to them.
The alliance between the Solar Clan and the Flare State deepened further as the months passed and the year turned. Elders and warriors who once resisted the union began to soften, following the path of their peers—forming friendships, forging bonds, and even starting families within Flare territory. Loyalty to the Solar Clan endured, but roots in the Flare Palace grew deeper, intertwining two lineages into one.
Lara was four months pregnant.
No surprise there.
If anything, Jalen and the others were amazed it had taken this long. She and Jaquan seemed biologically incapable of not expanding the population. Jalen figured that at their current pace, by the time they reached a thousand years, they'd have tens of thousands of children.
And speaking of Jalen—his bond with Rana deepened in quiet, meaningful ways. That year, they lived like a normal couple, free from cultivation trials and battlefield demands. Just joy. Just passion. Just presence. But unlike his father, Jalen chose restraint. Jael, Raja, and Jala were already a constellation of chaos and wonder. More children? Not now. He wanted to be present, not prolific.
By year's end, the Crown Kingdom completed the teleportation formation linking its capital to the Flare State. Trade had already begun. Now came the season of reaping.