Cold water splashed over the woman, and she stirred awake.
She soon remembered what had happened before she passed out. "I remember... We ran into the Succubus Queen and the Lord of Dawn at the end?"
"They were after me," Jiang Hao said, making no attempt to hide it.
"When you decide to become a god, your enemies are already set. They'll fight to the death to stop your ascension." Reciting a line from Bartholomew Augustus's notes, she asked, still somewhat dazed, "Your enemies are the Lord of Dawn and the Succubus Queen?"
"Yes." Jiang Hao nodded. They did count as his enemies, though only the Lord of Dawn opposed him over a struggle for Authority. Strictly speaking, even he was not an enemy on Jiang Hao's path to godhood: Jiang Hao intended to ascend as the God of Agriculture, not the God of the Sun.
"Your Authority isn't Abundance, is it?" Quick-witted Sera immediately understood part of it.
Sandru's Authority could not be Abundance. Otherwise, his enemies would not be the Lord of Dawn and the Succubus Queen.
"It isn't."
With her answer confirmed, she drew a breath and said bitterly, "Good thing I talked Arnold out of it. Otherwise, you would have ruined him."
Jiang Hao looked at her and smiled faintly. "If he hadn't tried to trap me, I wouldn't have trapped him."
"You're right."
"Will we still be friends?"
What she meant was whether he would still consider her a friend after becoming a god.
"We will." Jiang Hao nodded gently.
"Thank you."
Sera smiled. The Radiance of a Divine Spell rippled over her, changing her clothes to cover parts of her body. She was still cold, but her heart was glad. "I look forward to the day you ascend."
Morning Sunlight fell on Arnold