“Another Summoner?”

Chapter 182: Owen & Gondul Leave The Kingdom?

The dark green silk sheets rustled as three warm bodies stirred from their slumber. Ku Mu, Loki’s Dryad and soul-contracted wife, opened her dark green eyes, gazing at him with eternal devotion.

Pressing her lips gently against his, she whispered softly, careful not to wake the woman cradled in his other arm. "Loki, go on your adventures and leave the Demonic Sect affairs to me. I will take Zia Qing back to the Beastmaster Sect while you are gone for the month. We need to ready the first wave of members to start the new sect in the north."

Loki’s hands gently roamed over the smooth, curvy legs of his new Phoenix, Zia Qing. She was still exhausted from the remarkable intensity of their lovemaking the night before. Moving a stray lock of auburn hair from her face, he kissed her forehead.

Turning to Ku Mu, he switched to English just in case the sexy Phoenix was secretly awake. "Alright, we will officially split the names as you recommended. The main branch will remain The Demonic Sect, while the northern branch will officially take the name The Beastmaster Sect to show our closeness. Bring over whichever elders and disciples you and Meidi want."

Ku Mu kissed him again, a lingering question in her eyes. "Are you sure you want Shehuang as the new Sky Duchy Beastmaster Sect Leader while I take the position of First Elder?"

"Yeah. Qinglong’s prophecy says I have to save the Demonic Sect over there, so I can't take the official sect master post in the Western kingdom," Loki explained, caressing her hip. "Plus, having you here is perfect. You can move back and forth between the branches using the Safe Haven Portal with Baihu, so you can tend to your pocket herb realm over there."

As long as Loki didn't summon Baihu to his side for long periods, Ku Mu and Baihu could transport sect members and cargo rapidly.

All Ku Mu needed to do was anchor her Safe Haven Portal spell to the new sect grounds near the Sky Duchy capital.

After finalizing a few more instructions, Loki slipped out of the tangled sheets, leaving the spent and beautiful Zia Qing sleeping soundly beside her master.

Back at the newly acquired Sky Mansion, a large crowd had gathered. Bianca, Lana, Angelica, Pandora, Celia, Lisa, Andra, and Ayala were all present to see Loki and Frigg off.

Privately, Loki stood with Bianca, letting her harvest his blood into full Life Bottles for Camila and Alice. She held the specific ring Owen had given him, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Husband, you know this was actually my ring," Bianca laughed quietly. "I wore it during my guise as King Balder II to pretend I possessed the Death element. Before I had to leave Owen behind, I passed it to him as the new King. To think it would end up right back in your hands. It really is fate."

"What will you do while I'm away?" Loki asked. "Are you still planning to visit Camila and Alice?"

Bianca nodded. "I will deliver the blood bottles to them, and then we will all travel together on the Dark Warship for the Summer Council meeting in the sixth month."

After kissing and hugging his extensive family, playing with his children, and double-checking his baggage, Loki and a heavy-hearted Lana set off for the eastern airfield, protected by Pandora.

Inside the creaking carriage, Loki pulled the melancholy Lana into his arms. "I'll be back long before our little Ullr is born, Lana. Cheer up."

Lana shook her head, her expression strained. "Loki, I had another one of my Prophetic Dreams last night. It was about you, my father, and Queen Ariel. You and Ariel were standing over father's gravestone. She was holding you and crying, but you still looked exactly like my father. I don't think he should go on his solo adventure. He should go to Atlantis instead of you."

Loki’s heart tightened. The Elven Dream Seer powers were terrifyingly accurate. "Okay, let's tell your dad once we get onto the SDF-One. I don't like the sound of that warning at all. To be honest, I didn't really want to go to Atlantis anyway."

Lana smirked, well aware of his constant complaints. Loki's legendary luck was a chaotic double-edged sword—equally capable of bringing immense fortune or absolute disaster.

Upon boarding the massive SDF-One, Gondul led them straight into Owen’s main cabin, where the emergency meeting took place.

Lana immediately summoned Frigg into the cabin. Together, they explained the grim prophecy to both Leandra and Owen, urging the King to call off his solo journey to the secret realm and take the Atlantis trip instead. Leandra, who had originally come just to see Owen and Loki off before spending some mother-daughter bonding time with Lana, felt her chest constrict with anxiety.

Meanwhile, Gondul was busy briefing Frigg on the final details required to impersonate her. She handed Frigg a detailed notebook documenting all of Owen’s past experiences and contacts at the Inner Sea Mermaid Kingdom from his previous two trips.

Owen squinted his single blue eye in deep thought, rubbing his chin. He looked at his beautiful, anxious wife. "That dream can be interpreted in many ways, Lean. It doesn't explicitly show me dying—only that Loki was pretending to be me. This new Secret Realm is simply too important to share, especially since it lies deep inside Dwarven territory."

Using his condensed Death mana, Owen crafted a magical letter and sealed it tightly. It was designed to self-destruct if opened any earlier than one month from now.

"How about this? I will leave these coordinates with you," Owen proposed to Leandra. "If I go missing for a short while, you can open this letter, expose the Secret Realm to the world, and come find me."

He let out a heavy sigh. "This is just like the Shadowlands—a purely 9th Circle restricted realm. The artifact it holds must be legendary. I feel it in my gut, Lean. This is something I must do for our futures. My gut is never wrong about these things."

Holding Lana tightly, Loki felt like crying. In his experience, Owen’s gut feelings were completely untrustworthy.

Owen then turned to Loki, offering a casual wink. "By the way, the few maids on board to take care of me—or rather, you—aren't girls I've slept with. Feel free to have some fun with them while disguised as me if you want. They've probably been bribed by Balder kingdom nobles to spy on my arrival at the Mermaid Kingdom anyway."

Before Loki could protest, Leandra stepped forward and tore open a crack in space, manifesting a seven-foot-wide Gate Portal crackling with brilliant blue electricity. Through the shimmering rift, they could see Fenrir and Skogul waiting by a small airship roughly a thousand miles to the west.

Loki was already fully transformed into Owen’s disguise, complete with a restrictive eyepatch over his left eye, while Frigg stood ready as Gondul.

Owen waved back cheerfully as he stepped toward the rift. "Hey Loki, remember rule number two and rule number six—don't you dare lay your filthy hands on Leandra, haha! Good luck at the Mermaid Kingdom. When I get back, we'll handle the Summer Council affairs before you leave again. Oh, and don't forget to provoke all those legendary Mermaid slaps for me!"

Pop!

Before Loki could ask what the hell he meant by that, the spatial gate imploded and vanished. Owen was gone.

Loki turned to Leandra and Lana, shifting uncomfortably under the weight of the eyepatch. "Queen Leandra... what exactly was he talking about?"

Leandra—a magnificent six-foot-five blonde High Elf boasting a stunning, busty K-cup figure—immediately stepped forward. She boldly wrapped her arms around his, pressing his arm deep into her ample cleavage like a doting wife.

"Owen, don't forget to call me Lean, or 'Wife' now," she teased, her blue eyes flashing mischievously. "As for the slaps, that is Owen's signature game. To bed a Mermaid, custom dictates you must flirt with every single one of them until they slap you. They do it in good fun, and they all enjoy the chase.

It was only Opal who genuinely hated Owen's advances. Oh, don't look so miserable, husband!"

The towering Elf leaned down, pressing a playful, teasing kiss against Loki's disguised cheek. Enjoying his visible squirming, she giggled and waved her daughter over. "Oh my~ Lana, come say goodbye to your father now!"

Lana stood stunned for a moment. Seeing Loki’s arm completely trapped within her mother's massive boob-valley—while his single exposed blue eye practically begged her for rescue—made her burst into amusement. "Pfft~ Mother, Father, I shall leave the room so you two can say your goodbyes properly!"

A magical body double of Loki walked into the room to stand alongside Pandora, preparing to escort Lana and Leandra off the ship. Finally, the teasing Elf Queen let go of Loki's arm, leaning in close to whisper in his ear.

"I have to apologize for teasing you, my surrogate husband," Leandra laughed softly, her tone turning slightly ominous. "But when you return to the kingdom with the Mermaids, please don't hate me for my little tricks. I am only a jealous woman, after all. I love mischief just as much as I love my real Owen. Good luck on your trek. Bye-bye, Owen-kun."

Loki felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Now officially operating as King Owen, he and the newly disguised Frigg escorted the departing group down to the ramps.

Unbeknownst to Loki and Frigg at the time, First Queen Leandra had personally handled the logistics for this entire voyage. She was the one in charge of sending the introductory gifts and formal letters ahead to Fourth Queen Ariel Blue. Driven by a stroke of marital jealousy, she had heavily altered the details—completely unaware that the cosmic Fate Spider, Puck, was already weaving his own threads in the shadows to guarantee Loki massive, chaotic rewards at the Mermaid Kingdom.

As the heavy boarding ramps of the thousand-foot-long airship SDF-One began to retract, the sky-captain approached and knelt. Loki waved his hand for the man to rise.

"My King, we are ready for liftoff. Your orders?"

Loki, channeling his best chuunibyou impression of the eccentric King, nodded strictly. "Let it be so. Steady as she goes."

"Right away, King Balder!"

As the massive engines hummed to life, the two personal maids Owen had left behind began hovering around the cabin, looking eager to implement Owen's notorious "three perverted maid books."

Frigg, fully committed to her role as Gondul, grabbed Loki by the hand and aggressively dragged him toward the master suite.

"Master Owen, according to your strictly enforced personal schedule, it is officially motorboat time before we transition into a game of Twister," Frigg stated, her voice dripping with dry, dangerous sarcasm as she locked the door behind them. "Um, please explain to me right now who exactly we are playing naked Twister with later."

Loki ran his fingers through his newly adopted short grey hair, cursing his predecessor with every fiber of his being.

Damn you, Owen. If Frigg kills me because of your ridiculous otaku fantasies, I will personally make sure Lana's graveyard dream comes true!