Hearing Xayah's words, Akali froze completely in place. Although her expression didn't change much, her consciousness had already scattered to the winds for quite a while.
And just as Akali was still thinking about how she could salvage the situation, the Quinlon nearby suddenly emitted a crisp sound. In a trance-like instance, an invisible ripple centered on the Quinlon continuously spread out toward the surrounding forest.
And its range was... all of Ionia?
Watching the invisible wave vanish over the horizon, Akali fell into deep uncertainty. But in reality, Akali's senses were not wrong. Because at that exact same time, sages and masters located all over Runeterra sensed it, raising their heads with looks of astonishment.
"The rebirth of the natural spirits..." Within the Temple of the Everlasting, feeling the resonance of this sound, Karma's eyes also reflected slight surprise.
Although she had ample confidence in Faen, to be honest, the fading of the natural spirits wasn't something that had just started recently; it had begun a slow decline centuries ago. Generations of Karmas had attempted to slow down or halt the waning of the natural spirits, but the final outcome was always failure.
Although Darha personally believed deeply in Faen, with so many past failures serving as a precedent, her view on the waning of natural spirits had long stopped being just a "difficult problem," but rather an "unsolvable dead end."
Under such preconceived notions, it was entirely normal for Karma not to hold out hope for this.
Thinking this, she suddenly felt something. Karma grabbed her chest and crouched on the ground, her face flushed completely red.
That damn Syndra...
Darha was a very gentle person; swearing was almost impossible to occur with her. But the problem was that Syndra was simply far too unruly!
Under the effects of the sensory sharing ritual, the thoughts and sensations generated within Syndra's body were directly transmitted to Darha. This meant that whenever Syndra started touching herself, or let Faen pin her down, relentlessly fucking in and out of her tight pussy, Darha would feel everything exactly as if it were happening to her.
Once or twice was fine; Darha could still rely on her profound attainment in the spiritual realm to resist these mental shocks, suppressing the lustful sensations deep within the spiritual realm so they wouldn't affect her physical body.
But this process of suppression was merely delaying the inevitable disaster; it couldn't truly and effectively solve everything. To this end, Darha had also been preparing to attempt undoing the sensory sharing ritual... It was Syndra who maliciously initiated the pact first. Darha believed that even if she failed to break the pact in the end, with Faen acting as a witness, Syndra would at least restrain herself much more.
As for completely severing it... to be honest, Darha didn't hold out much hope. After all, Syndra's hatred for Ionia hadn't disappeared; it had merely been redirected onto Darha herself.
Under these circumstances, Darha initially endured these sensations with the mindset of a self-sacrificing martyr.
Once I've almost reached my limit, Syndra's anger should have subsidized, Darha thought to herself.
One could only say that Ionia had been at peace for far too long. Even though she inherited the wisdom of past generations of the Awakened Ones, Darha's own thinking had yet to break free from the shackles of the past, completely unaware of the consequences of appeasing a ravenous conqueror.
And by the time Darha snapped back to reality, it had already reached the desperate situation of "ceding one city today and ten tomorrow, only to buy a single night's sleep, before waking to find the enemy army at the gates once more."
When Darha finally resolved to sever the connection, as fate would have it, Syndra had already successfully become pregnant. And the ritual to sever the shared sensations would inevitably deal a massive shock to Syndra's mind and body. Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance that it might affect the fetus, whether out of Darha's own compassionate nature, her trust in Faen, or her care for Syndra, Darha absolutely dared not take that gamble.
But precisely because of this, the influence Darha suffered began to grow more and more obvious.
During pregnancy, a woman's estrogen levels soar to over ten times normal, and the serum hCG, normally maintained at 5 mIU/mL, shoots up to exorbitant levels within ten weeks. The increase in other related hormones is equally uncountable.
This also caused Darha's body to undergo corresponding physical changes—her breasts grew larger, painfully swollen and engorged with milk. The constant leaking of breast milk forced Darha to stuff absorbent pads into her bra. Her hip measurements were also constantly expanding, forcing Darha to specifically widen the hems of her ceremonial robes.
Faen's image flashed through her mind constantly, and every time she thought of him, her body would exhibit obvious sexual arousal. Sometimes, she even had to rush to the bathroom or enter her spiritual realm for a quick meditation, followed by a change of clothes because she got so wet.
But doing this was only stalling for time. As the situation continued to develop, Darha could clearly feel that whenever she finished meditating and began wiping away the dripping love juices from her soaked pussy with a handkerchief, unstoppable waves of carnal ecstasy and lustful urges would churn violently within her body.
If this continues, I'll have to start masturbating, won't I? And then what? What happens when even masturbation can't satisfy me anymore...
Thinking this, Darha couldn't help but gulp. She resolved that she absolutely had to have a serious talk with Faen the next time he returned... and with that brat Syndra too.
I can't let her keep running wild like this...
As she thought this, Darha's hand subconsciously drifted down to rest on her own flat belly, gently stroking it as if she were caressing the crystallized love child born between her and her lover.
By the time Darha snapped back to reality and realized she was still entirely single and unfucked, she plunged into a state of panic and emptiness. Only after quite a while did she force herself to calm down and begin meditating once again.
Meanwhile, tweaking her own nipples which were heavily swollen from pregnancy, and sensing the thoughts transmitting from Darha on the other side, a twisted, wicked smile spread across Syndra's face. She stroked her clearly protruding, watermelon-sized pregnant belly, then glanced at her dripping wet crotch in the mirror, an undisguised expression of ravenous lust appearing on her face.
I've held back for so long, it's about time I let my darling get intimately close with our little baby again... Yes, I'll wait exactly for the moment when Darha can't endure it anymore and comes looking for trouble.
"I just need to hold on for a little while longer..."
Gulping heavily, Syndra muttered to herself in a lust-addled daze. It was obvious she had been enduring this for many days, and her inner carnal cravings had long reached their absolute peak.
Meanwhile, on the other side, having returned to the material realm, Faen said, "Things are a bit complicated. We might need to venture deep into the spiritual realm for a trip. But before that..."
Smacking his lips, Faen shifted his gaze towards Xayah, who had walked up to him hand-in-hand with Sona, and said: "I might need to resolve a certain young maiden's matters of the heart first?"