Turning to face the Paragons, he floated up into the air before speaking, "I will not take up much of your time. The reason for calling you all is to announce the new rule that will take effect.
From this day forth, all grade 3 and 4 are to accept challenges from divine beings below them; should they lose, they will forfeit their divine role and para-causality."
Everyone was shocked into silence. This rule wasn't something minor but a change of cosmic scale that would change the balance of the Omniverse.
Paragons were organized by grades, with 5 being the weakest, and only for newly ascended Paragons, and 1 being the highest for the strongest and most important ones. Riven himself was grade 1 and the strongest Paragon.
But the majority of Paragons were grade 3 and 4; this was due to not having enough strength, or their divinity was, in simple terms, shitty. Like seriously, a Paragon of socks, how did you even make it this far with such a terrible title?
Even then, a Paragon was still a Paragon; even the strongest deities couldn't take one on if there were hundreds of them. That didn't mean there wasn't a way to win. Each Paragon has a prophetic verse detailing their divine origin; within it lies their weakness.
But what separated a grade 3 and 4 Paragon from a grade 2 and 1 was the lack of weakness mentioned in their verse. Riven, for instance, has no weakness as the personification of Doom, while on the other hand, Gilgamesh, who was grade 2, had a minor and very niche weakness. 'Strife' itself.
But none of this mattered to those weaker Paragons; this new rule was like a death sentence. The logical thing for them to do was to kill all divine beings that even got close to figuring out how to defeat them, but wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
Doom always lingered in worlds like that, where fear led to pruning potential instead of nurturing it. They never understood: the more you try to prevent the storm, the worse it hits when it comes.
And for them, they would be dealing with its living personification if they went too far with it.
Looking out at the surrounding Paragons, Riven could see it, the fear they held. The glances his way, the awkward shifting, and restlessness, but they weren't even the worst. It was those who remained silent that grabbed his attention most.
They disgusted him, and unless they crossed the line, he could not bring Doom to them; he could only wait till they slipped up and made a mistake for some to rise up and bring upon doom to them.
He could only click his teeth in disappointment, "Cowards."
Just then, a shout rang out from the crowd, "This is madness! You expect us to just accept this? Who gave you the right to change the cosmic order on a whim!?"
Everyone in the crowd turned their heads toward the owner of the voice, but as soon as they saw him, their eyes became full of disdain.
"Tch, it's just a newly ascended Paragon."
"Great, another one who thinks he's heaven chosen."
"I guess he didn't listen to the mother goddesses' words properly."
The mother goddesses were a collection of sisters tasked with monitoring the overall condition of the Omniverse; each goddess watched over a multiverse and would report the status to the Mother of the Omniverse.
They also had another task: to inform all divine beings above a certain level of strength about the rules governing higher existences, one of which helped protect Paragons from Aeons and those above them.
"Haah, here we go again," Riven mumbled under his breath.
Origin stood there, his smile stretching even wider as the Paragon continued, "You think because you're an Aeon, you get to make the rules, well, I bet you're just a phony hiding behind a false."
The Paragon continued to shout insults that even a third grader would find terrible, but it wasn't until his next words that the atmosphere in the room changed.
"Once I'm done with you… Heh heh," a lecherous smile spread across his face. "I'll take good care of your daughters for you."
Frowns covered the faces of the Paragons present, even the most stoic, who found no problem doing whatever they wanted, looked at him in disgust; they weren't just any divine being who found no issue in such an act, they had class.
And more than that, there were plenty of Paragons who, due to their divine curse, couldn't sire a child or find a woman who had a strong enough vessel. The only chance they had was to return to where they originated to find someone with high compatibility and seal the power of the children to protect their lives and the mother.
One such Paragon was Riven himself, whose curse made him one step away from infertility, and the main reason he hated those who killed younglings without mercy.
Just as Riven was about to step forward and bring Doom upon the foolish Paragon, a voice stopped him its cold command, wiping away any thoughts of moving out of his mind. "Don't take another step forward."
Origin's cold gaze locked onto Riven. Once he was sure Riven wasn't going to move, he turned his attention back to the arrogant Paragon before him, his smile now held a dangerous tint.
Stretching out his open palm, he slowly raised it into the air. At the same time, the Paragon began to rise from the ground, his expression quickly shifting from arrogance to panic.
"Hey, what's going on?" He tried mustering his strength to break free, but felt like he was grasping at straws. "Argh, what's happening?"
Once he was high above the others, Origin slowly began closing his hands, "Aargh, p-please stop-p"
Hearing him beg, Origin smirked, increasing his speed slightly, "Aaah! Please, I'm sorry! I won't–"
Before the Paragon could finish his apology, Origin's hands spread open wide before slamming close. The Paragon let out one last frightening scream before his body exploded into a bloody mist.
"I'd like to remind you all that we Aeons take the rules very seriously, and any Paragon not in a pillar found insulting us will meet a swift end. Don't think you can do so even if you're in a pillar, if you grab his attention, then even we won't be able to save you."
His eyes scanned the crowd as he spoke, his last words especially sent a chill down their spines. The 'He' he mentioned was one of the two beings they knew never to speak of unless permitted to, and even then, only in a positive way; even the mere mention of their names was enough to grab their attention.
"Now, if any of you have an issue with the rule, speak to the mothers. Meeting adjourned!" Almost as if he didn't exist, Origin vanished completely from the hall, leaving everyone to question the enigma that is the Aeon of Origin.
Seeing no reason to remain, Riven began making his way out of the hall, just as he was almost out of the hall, Gilgamesh's loud voice filled the air, "Hey Riven, you just going to leave like that? Let's go get a drink on me this time."
"Sorry, not this time, I have something to do."
"Fine, have it your way, I don't know what you've been up to, but—"
"You don't have to finish that sentence. Whenever you have time, come to the planet Earth in my home universe. Oh, and bring Reishin, he needs to leave the Spirit realm every now and then."
"Alright, give me some time to wrap up my duties, and I'll be there." Gilgamesh held out his fist, smirking lightly. Within his fist, a trace of his divine power was channeled.
Riven caught sight of it and let out a resigned sigh, but a mischievous smirk quickly spread across his face. Channeling his divine power, he gathered it in his fist and playfully tapped it against Gilgamesh's.
With just a casual manner, they had triggered the end of a random civilization, in the omniverse, due to internal strife that would eventually lead to 'Doom' before both vanishing from where they stood.
In exactly three nanoseconds, Riven had returned to Earth, where only thirty minutes had passed since he left. His figure slowly blurred into existence just a bit above the ground. Once he was fully visible, he softly dropped to the ground.
His clothes had already changed back into the normal black tuxedo he always wore. Pulling his sleeve back, he checked the time on his watch. "Good, it hasn't been that much time, I'm still not sure about the time dilation here compared to out there."
Getting his keys out, he unlocked the door. Walking in, he shouted, "I'm back."
***
A few days later,
Steam drifted lazily across the bathroom tiles as the rhythmic hiss of water echoed softly against tile and stone. Aria stood beneath the stream, eyes half-lidded, arms propped against the cool wall. Letting the warmth soak into her shoulders and down her spine.
Water cascaded over her skin, tracing the toned muscles built through years of early morning routines just like this.
A Week.
That's how long it had been since they'd moved into Riven's mansion. She still wasn't sure how to feel about it. The place was massive—bigger than she could've imagined—and somehow still felt… quiet. Not empty. Just still.
The water trickled down her forearms as she pulled back, eyes blinking away the steam.
School starts next week. Another shift. Another change. A part of her missed the chaos of before–smaller spaces, simpler routines–but she couldn't deny it. Life here was… better. Easier, even.
Her thoughts drifted to Riven. He hadn't really said why he'd taken them in, not in so many words. Always the same, repaying a favor excuse. But he was always there, measured, distant, but present.
And that mattered more than she wanted to admit. No number of lies would change that.
She reached for the soap, moving with the same quiet focus she used during training.
"Gotta stay sharp," she muttered to herself, voice barely audible beneath the water's fall. "No slacking."
A few more minutes. Then the gym.
After getting dressed, Aria quickly arrived at the gym, but instead of finding it empty, she discovered it was in use.
Riven stood in the middle of the gym, one hand firmly placed on the ground while the rest of his body was held in the air. He slowly lowered himself till his nose almost touched the ground before bringing himself back up.
Sweat dripped down his chiseled muscles with every breath. Quietly, he counted each rep. Once he reached two hundred, he pushed himself off the ground, flipping onto his feet. "Alright, warmup complete."
Grabbing a towel, he began to wipe the sweat off his face. It was only now that he noticed Aria standing, gobsmacked at the door.
Waving to her, he called out, "Hey Aria, whatcha doin' standing at the door? Come in."
Aria blinked. 'Was that how he used to talk?
Walking in, she set her bag down on the ground. She had brought a change of clothes, not wanting to walk through the house sweaty to reach her room, and luck for her, the gym had showering rooms for both genders.
"Hey Aria," Riven called out as he walked over to her. "I've noticed you're a lot more active than your sister and visit the gym often, but I should warn you it's not good to work out so much with weights when you're still growing.
To better explain, though, we have the books on proper form and technique, but it can still be dangerous without proper supervision and rest. And your mom would not let me hear the end of it if you got an injury to your growth plates."
"Okay, if you're so worried about it, why don't you just train me yourself?" she said without hesitation, clearly remembering all the weird shows of strength she had witnessed this last week, from lifting a table with one hand to tilting a car to help a kid get a ball from underneath it.
That level of strength, she wanted it. And Riven, seeing the clear desire in her eyes, agreed. "Alright, but you must do only what I tell you to do of these exercises, no more than that, without my explicit permission."
"Deal!" she said, a bit too eagerly.
"Ok, give me a second." Walking a bit away, Riven grabbed a book off the ground next to where he was working out earlier.
Walking over to her, he passed her the book. "Here, read this in your free time. This contains all the exercises I've been doing for the past sixteen years. You are only to do the first two exercises, and no more."
"Alright, I understand you don't have to tell me twice."
"Okay, you can look at the details on the exercises later. For now, I'll show you the two exercises and then help you practice them yourself," saying that Riven began showing her the first of the two exercises, breaking it down, stance by stance, before letting her try.
At first, she could barely enter the first stance of exercise one, but slowly, with Riven's guidance, her form gradually improved. Soon, she was able to do all eight stances of the first stage perfectly.
After completing the first exercise fully without stopping, Aria dropped to the ground. Her chest rose and fell with labored breaths, sweat poured down her body, and her muscles ached more than ever before, but she smiled.
"Not bad, Aria. You are by far one of the most talented I've seen practice this. Though it seems learning the second exercise will have to wait until you're more proficient in the first." With a faint flicker of energy, Aria managed to raise her arm just enough to flash him a thumbs up before it flopped back down to the ground.
It was then Riven's expression went vacant before morphing it one of annoyance, "Ok, that's it for today, try and rest for the next few days since it was your first time practicing the exercise. I have something to do, I'll be back later to make breakfast."
With that, Aria watched as he walked away. A whirlwind of emotions swirled inside her, leaving her bewildered by his abrupt departure. What had just happened?
-----
Next time on Daily Life of the Strongest…
There are moments when the weight of who you are catches up to you—when no disguise, no excuse, and no quiet morning can shield you from the truth of what you've become.
And for Riven, the question now wasn't whether he should return.
It was whether he could afford not to.
Next Chapter: "Doom's call"