The World's most Overpowered Side-Character

Chapter 306: Hesitation.

"I know that me coming here before you all is not ideally what you expected after being freed, and that the way I am approaching this matter is extremely straightforward; some might even say a bit forceful," Ikaris opened her introduction with her hand raised in a bid to quiet them, drawing everyone's undivided attention when she did it.

"I ask that you at least hear me out before you cast any judgement and make any decisions," She continued, seeing the last of the refugees join in the back.

Ikaris's voice burrowed directly into their minds while she spoke.

"The Godslayer Sol Vestic cannot take part in the liberation of our people and our Godslayer allies," Ikaris stared at them baring the full brunt of an uproar of murmurs after her words fully registered.

"What does that even mean, doesn't this sound like a call to arms?" One man asked rubbing his head with an expression of disbelief. "Are we supposed to follow a princess that left us behind and our Clan head who spent aeons slaughtering her own kind?" He asked.

"And who are those other women with them, one of them looks familiar," He drilled scepticism into those around him, dividing the crowd between those who listened intently and those who wanted to be elsewhere but had shown up out of obligation and curiosity. "With how lightly she is treading the topic I can already tell she is unsure if she deserves to even lead us anymore, what is this, this...?"

The man found breathing extremely difficult all of a sudden, holding his shirt and clawing at his flesh wildly and it was only after his eyes fell on Ikaris that he understood that he had spoken out of turn and nearly lost his life, not to her, but rather to Cecelia who still held Ikaris in the highest regard as the leader of their people, her stare had left him speechless and breathless with the lingering sensation of someone squeezing his throat.

"Choose your next words vert carefully, you have tread upon the Princesses name once and that one time is an offence worthy of death by a thousand swords!" Cecelia snapped from behind Ikaris staring at the man with a promise of pain in the near future with her fists clenched.

"Cecelia, don't," Ikaris looked around at her and then looked at the man again after she was sure the woman was calm enough to control herself.

"Listen to me all of you; the entire duration of my absence I was unaware of being any princess, I don't remember about your struggles and your suffering, I lost my memories and existed in solitude, going through struggles that had nothing to do with the Emporium or the Grand Collective, I still have no idea what kind of person I was before, whether I was a good or a bad leader, if my clan is alive or not, the state of the rebellion is unknown to me, I know none of it; I have no idea whether I was looked up to or hated, and I have reached a point in my existence where such things matter not to me," She stared at them seriously.

"What matters now upon my return is that I see the struggle of the Vatui and Godslayer races, not as the princess who disappeared but as a mother who was targeted and chased, as a wife who had to wait in hiding while my husband fought to protect me and my unborn, as the herald of an entirely new species of Vatui beings, I come before you not as some forgotten noble wanting soldiers to dirty their hands in her stead but as one who has suffered at the hand of the Emporium just as much as you all have and wants to drive them in the ground once and for all!" Ikaris raised her voice.

"I cannot do it by myself, I need your help, all of you if possible and that is why I employed the help of the system," She gestured to her side where they all saw a small woman in a maid's outfit appear out of thin air standing next to her and lowering her head at them from the small rise they stood on.

"I did not come emptyhanded; I returned with the knowledge of mana; the gift of life and the source of creation, the primary source of power which drives the entire Grand Collective."

"So that's what mana is supposed to be?

I thought it was coming from a Celestial god, but it is actually coming from the negligent princess," The same man who had raised his voice before spoke again and Ikaris looked at him silently for a few seconds before she vanished from their sights and appeared before him, frightening him so much he yelped out and fell on his ass failing to scurry away when she grabbed his arm and continued staring at him.

"I see," Ikaris stared at her hand joined with his and chuckled. "You lack belief even though the first thing I did upon rejoining the fight was destroy the equivalent of half a universe."

"Who in their right mind would believe that?" The man asked skeptically, dragging his hand away and scowling. "I never believed in you then and I don't believe in you now either, some things are beyond even us, we aren't gods-"

"Except, Ikaris is a god," Dina spoke from next to him raising him by his shirt and releasing him to stand on his own. "She is exactly what you thought she was; a Celestial God, she discovered mana, and has mastered use over it, how else do you explain what she has been able to do, or are you so stiff in the neck that you're unable to believe even the things that are proven right before your eyes?"

"Everyone knows the Royal family has always had special abilities, our clan leader is also of a Noble bloodline, and she has inherited skills outside of Vatui understanding, who is to say the Princess is not just another case like hers, this fake god is trying to sell us to the Emporium after the Godslayer saved us from the mistakes she made in the first place!"

"This one is quite rude, is he not?" Arla asked from the man's other side staring up at him with a chuckle. "Teaching him will be bothersome, Milady," She looked at Ikaris who sighed with a smile and regarded him with her fist.

"I have changed quite a lot after all, something tells me that this sort of thing in the past would have led to me making an example out of him, violently." She stated, looking around at Cecelia who stood stationary on the small rise glaring at the man like a rabid animal as if he had stepped across her food.

"I do not have the patience to deal with the unbelievers; we don't have the time to convince anyone that the threats we face are beyond this very Grand Collective," She spoke casually with an absent glare causing those in her immediate surroundings to flinch and wonder in awe at what could make her wear such an expression.

"I will leave him and anyone else who shares his views to Cecelia and her sister."

"Very well, I will be sure to make fine examples out of all of them, Your Highness," Cecelia answered from the rise, glaring at the man who now had an expression of horror as he thought about what she had carelessly said about Cecelia when he was in the heat of the moment. "I will ensure that their correction is the last they ever need."

"Wonderful," Ikaris looked at the crowd spread around her and slowly ascended off the ground. "I will start again then," She stated with more confidence than the first time, addressing the mass as she returned to the rise along with Arla and Dina.

"I am not the Ikaris that you knew, nor am I the Ikaris that you think you know, I may not be as intolerant as I was in the past but that doesn't mean I'll give you permission to speak to me as you please, I remember nothing, I owe you nothing, I am not your long-forgotten princess, I left a child and returned a woman, I have a family I wish to protect, I have friends I want to shelter, I have an entire race of descendants I never want to see this war, I fight for them, and I am asking you to fight for your people alongside me, I am handing you the greatest power across the Grand, and in return you finish the war that we failed to win once before, we avenge our fallen, we grow until there is no power in any collective or sector capable of standing before us; reclaim your title as the absolute race."

"Is mana all that special?" Someone asked and Ikaris scoffed and raised her hand.

"Mana is the source which powers Sol Vestic, Mana is the only power capable of empowering him."

"How can we take your word for it?" Someone hidden in the crowds shouted.

"You can take my word for it," Cecelia appeared at the woman's side, blitzing their senses with speed alone.

"I have already surpassed the power that the former War Angel possessed, I had no idea that she was still alive, but I always thought that she was the peak of power, I never believed the legends of Godslayers being able to shake the foundations of entire collectives, yet I saw him make this one vanish without a trace, we exist within him, he is hosting us effortlessly inside of his soul, and Vatui; I have never before heard of any Vatui of royal blood or otherwise possessing as much power as Her Highness does, she is a living breathing Vatui being turned Divine because of mana; she evolved, Dina there on her right used to be human but she wields mana so terrifying now she can rupture entire galaxies, and the same of Arla on her left, the three of them have become the peak of their species, and they want to share that power with us."

"This is the power to usurp the Emporium, why are you hesitating?"