Perfect Resurrection! The Flawless Empress
Somewhere deep in the jungle of Labyrinth Tower's fourth floor, right before the Miracle Spring.
The Emperor, standing directly in front of it, pulled a small pendant from his bosom.
"Great Ancestor Emperor. Your unworthy descendant beseeches your aid."
He channeled mana into the pendant and released it from his hand.
Hum hum hum
The pendant resonated loudly, slowly rising into the air.
Soon, it glowed brilliantly, emanating a clear, ethereal energy.
Gulp
The Emperor swallowed hard, tension coiling in his gut.
The supreme treasure handed down through generations of Empire Emperors: the Ancestor's Pendant.
It was also the Empire's secret weapon, usable only once, permitted solely in crises threatening the nation's very survival.
Thus, it had been assumed it would never see use outside a war staking the Empire's fate... but the present situation left no choice.
Hair-growth spring water, of all things.
No territory, no castle, no strategic stronghold in the Empire could possibly surpass its importance.
The Emperor squeezed his eyes shut, steeling himself to activate this treasure housing his Ancestor's soul.
Surely the Ancestors would approve of this choice.
Hum hum hum
After a brief moment, the pendant ceased its emanations.
"......"
A sharp-featured beauty slowly descended from midair.
"I pay my respects to the Ancestor Emperor."
The Emperor knelt before the Empress who had once led the Empire through its golden age of peak prosperity in the distant past.
"......A descendant, are you."
"I am the 27th Emperor, Ryan."
"The 27th... Considerable time has passed, then."
Empress Lea
The conqueror queen who ascended to the 17th throne as a woman, elevating the Empire from a minor power wielding scant influence over neighbors to the continent's preeminent superpower, etching her name into history.
Posthumously hailed by later generations as the Empire's mightiest ruler, whose singular presence warped the entire continental map and power balance.
Before her death from natural causes and return to dust, she had splintered her soul, sealing a fragment within the pendant.
An imperfect resurrection defying heaven's mandate through soul alone, sustainable for merely half a day at most.
Hence, her parting directive to posterity: use the pendant only in direst peril.
"A jungle, is it."
"Yes, a jungle."
"To summon me implies crisis for the Empire. Yet this jungle is no imperial capital. What transpires?"
Lea's elegant brows furrowed.
"Our Empire faces an urgent matter demanding utmost haste, compelling me to dare summon you, Ancestor."
"A race against time, you say..."
Snap
With a flick of her fingers, an ornate imperial throne materialized behind her.
Lea floated lightly atop it, reclining sideways.
"Suuuuh... Haaa. ...It hardly seems that pressing."
A pipe had somehow appeared between her lips.
"More curiously, I sense no depletion of my soul."
This contrived resurrection manifested via a soul fragment as medium.
Fueled by burning that soul fragment for sustenance, mere existence should have eroded her remaining essence.
Yet now, she felt no such drain.
No soul consumption.
Which meant she could maintain this resurrected state indefinitely.
"Ah, that must be because this place isn't our original continent—it's Luddera, another world entirely."
The Emperor's face lit up.
"Death holds no true meaning here. More precisely, one can revive without penalty or loss upon dying. Likely why your soul endures unscathed, Ancestor."
He had braced for a mere half-day's aid, yet with no soul drain!
In Luddera, her assistance might prove perpetual.
"Luddera? Another world?"
Renowned in her era as a peerless strategist, even she found the Emperor's words utterly alien, defying immediate comprehension.
"Well..."
The Emperor opened his mouth to explain Luddera's emergence, the advent of the Labyrinth Tower, the current continental turmoil, and the circumstances leading to her summons.
"No need. I shall witness it myself."
Lea raised a hand, halting him.
A magic circle inscribed itself upon her palm.
"It may sting briefly. I'm peering into your memories."
A short while later.
"Hmph... So, you invoked me—the one-time-only summon—for a single spring."
"Urgh... Y-yes! Th-that's correct."
The Emperor held the position: hands clasped behind his back, forehead pressed to the earth.
Even for his battle-hardened frame, maintaining it inflicted excruciating torment.
Yet Lea's wrath terrified him far more than the pain.
"Haa. I foresaw the day some dimwit heir might claim the throne, or that the Empire I forged could falter. But this... this is beyond shocking."
Lea inhaled pipe smoke, her expression one of utter disbelief.
"However, Ancestor, this spring's value defies estimation. No gold vein, no mithril mine could rival it."
"I know. All too well."
She who hadn't merely governed the Empire but solidified its continental hegemony could scarcely misjudge a man's fixation on such a prize.
"Men have ever clung to their vain locks since antiquity. Should this spring's existence leak across the continent, upheaval is inevitable. Thus, I comprehend why you dared summon me."
Lea clutched her forehead.
"Th-then, Ancestor... p-perhaps..."
"Yes, yes. I shall aid you."
"Ooh!"
"It concerns my Empire. No reason to refuse. This Labyrinth Tower fourth floor belongs to the Empire now. I decree it so."
With no soul drain, her resurrection could persist eternally.
Her manifestation unbound by time.
"That said, the Founding Emperor."
"Yes, Ancestor?"
"Mm..."
Recalling the scene from the Emperor's memories, Lea faltered.
"I see why you sought not his aid, but mine."
"Ah, aha..."
"It seems he's finally found the love he wandered dimensions pursuing, right here in Luddera."
Even centuries ago, during her reign, the Founding Emperor roamed realms in quest of his beloved.
She had once revered his overwhelming might.
"I deemed him the Empire's final bastion. But it falls to me now, it seems."
Not a speck of that respect remained.
Zing
"This is..."
Then, Lea sensed something probing her mind.
She swiftly erected a mental barrier, severing the intrusion.
"Daring to meddle in my thoughts... Insolent."
Empress Lea, transcendent archmage.
Her mental fortifications operated on another plane entirely.
Not even gods could pierce the psyche of she who possessed it.
Lea swiftly dismantled and analyzed the insinuation slithering into her consciousness.
"......Seeking to guide me toward a specific human."
She reclined upon her throne.
From Emperor Ryan's memories, she collated intel on Luddera's god.
The Beast King had gained the faith and deity coveted by beastkin.
The Founding Emperor reunited with—and won—his long-lost love.
The Labyrinth Tower's overlords each claimed their deepest desires within its depths.
As if Luddera's god had crafted ideal worlds bespoke for them.
"Does Luddera's god yearn to forge a perfect world for every player?"
An idealized realm tailored to each intelligent being.
Everyone possessing their own utopia, events unfolding precisely as its master wished—like a dream, romantic and sublime.
The ultimate solution where all could find happiness.
Lea had once harbored such a dream herself: creating such a world.
Perhaps Luddera's god intended precisely that.
"But such a world must not exist."
Having once yearned for it, she knew its inherent flaws all too well.
A god sharing her past ideals.
For the first time in ages, Lea felt intrigue stir.
BOOM
Moments later, the colossal tower of the fourth layer crumbled beneath Lea's feet.
Labyrinth Tower Floor 4, the Miracle Great Jungle, has been cleared by player ‘Lea’ and 0 others.
"First, I must investigate the man that god sought to lead me toward."
Information was key.
Intel on this god called GM.
Empress Lea soared skyward.