Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

"Mom is here, so we can take it easy now."

The degree to which Fay's relaxed in a single instant was uncanny. Through our bond, I could tell there wasn't a single shred of hesitation or doubt in her mind.

Now that Madam had arrived, Fay considered the entire altercation to be over.

Sadly, as much as I wanted, I couldn't share the same mindset.

'Loraz isn't that weak,' I thought, gritting my teeth in frustration at having to choose between trusting in Fay's instincts… and doing what I believed to be my due diligence to keep her safe. 'And compared to Madam, he actually might be…'

I didn't really get to finish my thought. And as soon as Madam made a single step towards her ex, I figured out…

No, I saw the reason why Fay acted so carefree now that her mother returned.

There was no further fight. And without a doubt, it wasn't because my strike managed to pummel all the aggressive ideas out of Loraz's head.

No.

When Madam stepped forth, the entire world appeared to move with her. It was only when her feet touched the ground that I realized it was only an illusion… Or rather, a phantom experience.

It wasn't the world that moved along with Madam's step. It was all the world's mana around, save for the narrow bubble of safety that Fay prompted up with the thick array of the sparks of her divine aura.

And when Madam made her step, despite moving only about half a meter… She suddenly appeared right by her ex's side.

When she moved, she didn't bother to thread the way an ordinary mortal would. Instead, she bent the very space around her, moving not by pushing herself off the ground but by doing exactly the same that I managed to achieve with my evolved, Aura Tribute.

The difference though, was the scale.

Partially due to a lucky fluke, I managed to bend a narrow stretch of space to use it as a speed boost for the fist that I used to deliver my last strike to Loraz's face. I only managed to keep the bend of space for a short moment. Still, even doing as little was enough to sap nearly three-quarters of my mana, leaving my reserves dangerously low.

Madam, on the other hand, bent the space as freely as she would bend a piece of paper. The nonchalant look on her elegant face made it seem it was merely a convenience trick rather than an actual movement technique for her.

And witnessing all of that, I couldn't help but ponder.

'What the hell are her limits?' I thought at first while watching Madam casually grab Loraz up, whisper something right into the divine's face only to then turn, and using the momentum of said turn, throw Loraz right back to where we stood.

"Careful," I shouted lightly while shooting my right hand to the side and backing off, using my elbow to push Fay out of harm's way while moving into the potential line of fire myself.

"Didn't I tell you?" Fay suddenly asked, only to take a step to the left to appear right behind me before pushing her hands forth and wrapping them around my stomach. "Mom is here, so everything will be fine."

I could tell just how eager Fay was to leave the scene and find some privacy somewhere around, where we could sing the mating song of our kind consisting of moans, screams, and autistic screeches of people drowning in pleasure.

But with Madam busy pummeling Loraz… It felt kind of awkward to just grab Fay and go disappear in some sort of bush that we would then make intensively shake for quite some time…

'It would be like rubbing her lack of mate in her face,' I thought, gulping my saliva down… Only to feel Fay hold back her giggle behind my back once she sensed where my thoughts traveled.

Whoosh!

By taking a simple step back, Madam moved from where she threw Loraz all the way to where he fell. And once again, she did so with no more but a single step.

"You've had one job," Madam spoke in an extremely cold, low voice. And for the first time since I've met her, I saw some really intense sparks going off in her eyes.

The look on her face was intense enough to kill, which all on its own made me shiver a bit.

I knew her fury wasn't directed at me, but between what I knew and how I felt in the presence of the absolute apex of the forest…

"It's okay," Fay whispered right to my left ear before resting her chin on my shoulder and giving me a light hug from behind.

"You only had to keep those two safes, so how did we go from there to you trying to kill them?" Madam asked, her voice turning slightly warmer… No, more neutral. As if all the emotions that made it cold before were now receding.

And for a moment, I was willing to believe Madam actually managed to rein her feelings in. The still, tense yet calm look on her face fooled me. The language of her body as a whole fooled me. Even the air she had around her got the better of me.

But the erratic flow of the aura all around the scene was enough of a shake-up to let me see the truth behind Madam's cold and composed facade.

"Speak!" Madam shouted, once again infusing her voice into the aura in the air and thus turning it into a compelling power.

"He's the one who set the two of you against me!" Loraz didn't wait to make use of this opportunity.

Using his movements as the extension of his expressiveness, he rose up from the ground… only to remain on all fours before slamming his forehead into the ground in a sign of submission.

The difference between Loraz and Madam's ranks was simply too great. And while I just might somehow luck out and clutch a victory against Loraz… Loraz had no hopes of ever doing the same when facing Madam.

"Can't you see this? Right as he appeared, humans came to invade! Right as he appeared, you decided to break your vow and unleash your strength, effectively halving our…"

"Halving our strength?" Madam cut into Loraz's words with a smirk growing on her otherwise expressionless face. "Do you really think two ascended, not even promoted ones could face against a single supreme?"

The look on Madam's face changed…

While Fay sneaking her hand into my pants made it pretty damn hard to focus on the developing situation.

"Dear, can it wait just a little?" I asked, perfectly and painfully aware of the extent of Fay's battle-born lust.

As great as it felt to connect to the woman I loved at such a deep, intimate level… It also made it extremely hard to stop our feelings from amping up just by reflecting on each other. When Fay felt lust, I would become aware of the fact through our bond, leading to my instinctive response. And once my own affection and lust would reflect back into Fay's soul, the process would repeat.

Or, in short words, even a single hint of affection, excitement, laziness, boredom, or literally any other emotion or state was enough, after just some time, to give birth to a powerful craving.

If one of us would be hungry, the other would realize how long it's been since we ate. That would spark hunger in the other, only further amplifying the hunger that started it all and throwing the two of us into yet another example of a positive feedback loop.

"You know I can't…" Fay's whisper tingled in my ears, sending a wave of pleasure down my spine while also muddling my thoughts a little. And with her fingers carefully, gently grasping at my shaft while she obviously used our bond to guide her hand through the insides of my pants…

"The only reason why I left that day is that I didn't want Fay to know how much of a loser her father is," Madam spoke harshly, her cold tone serving as a cold shower to wake both me and Fay up from our lust-driven momentary state of mind.

'Huh?'

A shiver ran down my spine.

There was something…

I gulped my saliva down.

There was something extremely unsettling in Madam's voice.

"The only reason why I didn't outright kill you was because I thought there was no one better to leave managing the clans to," Madam continued while slowly walking to where Loraz prostrated himself and remained bowed down ever since his desperate plea.

This time, Madam didn't shift through space like before, taking her time to approach her ex instead. And once she finally stood above him…

"And the only reason I didn't kill you ever since then, is because I still harbored some naive hopes you would grow and man up," Madam spat out on the ground… Only to bring her foot to Loraz's shoulders and kick forward, sending him tumbling onto his back.

"But I'm not as naive now," Madam spoke, the intensity in her voice raising which perfectly reflected in the erratic flow of the aura all over the place. "I can't be that naive when you raised your hand against Fay's mate I approved," Madam spoke while giving me a short, weird glance before turning her eyes back to her estranged husband.

"And definitely not after you dared to wish harm upon Fay," Madam concluded her calm tirade, right as her voice reached the temperature of an absolute zero.

And so, without any further hesitation, she took another step forward…

Only for her foot to land down on Loraz's crotch with a thunderous boom as his most precious parts dissolved under the heel of Madam's shoe.

"So you will have to forgive me if I can no longer hold back from taking appropriate measures."