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Chapter 117 - Reunions in Zohigal
🕑 Added 2019-03-01 20:55:20 +0000 UTC
Kamii Side
Something big is happening above. The massive flying fortress has released a beam of light reminiscent of Kuroeh's light magic, although it was a continuous stream rather than a javelin. A few moments later, the sounds of hundreds of explosions resound across the sky.
"This is our chance." Kamii mutters to Ireyo and turns to Terog and Zancrax. "Keep Oinos occupied; we're going for Alverost."
"You can't be serious." Rolan begins to protest, but she lifts her crab arm to stop him.
"If you don't want to help, stay here." The little dark elf says with upturned eyes filled with disappointment. She isn't trying to persuade him though, as she springs into action without waiting for a reply. "Go."
Even though Terog and Zancrax overheard Rolan and Gram's tale about Oinos' power before, they see that this may be the best opportunity to take down Alverost. They wouldn't mind losing their lives if they can take at least one of the gods with them - especially the one responsible for a majority of the atrocities committed against demons.
Pushing the high-ranking lizardfolk officials aside, Zancrax moves first. He isn't wearing his granite armor, but he still charges forward fearlessly, as both the gods and all the soldiers in black are staring up into the sky in surprise.
The massive minotaur lowers his head and aims his remaining horn to gore the dark-skinned god. But instead of piercing flesh and drawing blood, he bounces off his back and crashes into Oinos with his shoulder. It felt like he ran into a mountain.
"Hm?" Turning around casually, the Walker of the Wild wonders what tickled him, to see Zancrax staggering sideways. The minotaur reveals Terog, who swings an obsidian saw at the back of the god's knee while throwing a knife of the same right into his eye.
The projectile bounces off his naked eyeball, while the saw's teeth shatter on impact, not even leaving a single scratch on Oinos.
"Oh, there were other kinds of demons here?" Without a care in the world, he fully turns around to look at the challengers who so daringly attacked him with all their might.
But Kamii and Ireyo have already passed him by his blind spot on the other side, and are heading straight for Alverost. The latter only now realizes that something is happening right next to him and turns to look, and so do the black armored soldiers.
The dark elf spots them raising the crossbow-like tools in their hands and realizes that if they aren't trying to run forward to protect their god, they must be able to take the assailants down from a distance. And they're still half a dozen steps away from touching the god who may only appear to be an elderly man. Even if they can reach him, he may not go down instantly.
When beams of light emerge from the tips of the black tools, Kamii realizes that she may have grossly miscalculated.
Hestia Side
When they were granted access to the city of Zohigal, she flew ahead of the others. She had spotted her target through the streets and trees, and nobody would stop her from getting there before anybody else does.
A festering emotion has been eating away at her insides ever since that time she and Onee-sama had been transported to the Khurut Sultanate. Even when she enjoyed her embrace back then, and the times after they reunited, that emotion wouldn't leave her. It's a darkness deeper than any cave, boring a hole into her heart.
And the reason for that is atop the ziggurat, where all the city's eyes seem to be focused on; the gathering of the lizardfolk surrounding an incredibly tall and muscular brown-skinned man, the minotaur and the boar demon charging at the former, the white-haired old man and the armored soldiers clad in black lined up behind him.
The little dark elf charging past the ensuing confusion alongside a rabbit demon is the reason she went ahead of her companions - the other girls in Onee-sama's harem.
She has seen enough dangerous situations to understand that the tools in the hands of those black soldiers are used for murder at a range, resembling crossbows without limbs. And they're trained on the approaching girl with the cursed arm.
A shiver runs across Hestia's body, and a crazed smile spreads across her lips when she realizes that death is heading for Kamii. Finally, the time has come.
Chaos Side
When I descend on the city, I see a pyramid-like building atop of which lizardfolk are gathered. They seem to have been in the middle of something when the battle station floating above rained on their parade.
Then my enhanced vision, the eyesight of an eagle I ate sometime along the way in my life, shows me the details of the people on the platform. My calibration is a little off, so the first thing that fills my vision is a muscular brown-skinned chest belonging to a man. Zooming out, I discover that this green-haired and -bearded man is the tallest person around, being charged at by a man in a red mohawk and a massive minotaur who's still shorter than him.
They attack him fruitlessly, making it clear that he's not a normal human. Then I notice an old man with white hair and a beard of the same color standing in front of a contingent of soldiers in black armor, looking like potentially elite versions of the ones inside the flying fortress above.
I recognize him as one of those present during the battle in which my mother died - in other words, that's Alverost.
But my gaze falls on the purple-skinned girl with the massive crab pincer for a right forearm, and my figurative heart performs a bungee jump in my unfathomable depths.
In my horror, I notice that she and a small hooded figure are charging at the old man while the black soldiers train their laser rifles on them. Within less than a split second, the entire upper half of my face changes into the eyes of a dragonfly once again, as I try to slow down time. However, even if my perception of time changes, it doesn't change the speed at which I can physically move.
"Kaaamiiiiii!!!" I scream as I watch the rifles discharge a deadly storm of laser beams while I feel like my body is moving through molasses despite breaking the sound barrier.
But a figure jumps in from the side and blocks them with a pair of jet black wings. The familiar silver hair sways from the impacts as the plasma burns feathers. After the first salvo, the battered figure of Hestia remains standing with her arms stretched out, covering Kamii with her own body.
When she falls forward, I'm there to catch her. Replacing the sizzling surface of my body after it melted from the air friction due to my sudden burst of speed, I embrace the fallen angel in my arms.
"Onee-sama..." She presses out between faltering breaths, looking up at me with tear-filled red eyes. "Can you... finally forgive me?"
Those words are enough for me to understand everything. She must have been feeling guilty for being the one I rescued when we were sent away from the academy. At the time, I was forced to leave Kamii behind, who had been with me first. And most likely she sensed that a part of me was subconsciously blaming her for that.
"You did nothing you need to ask forgiveness for." Engulfing Hestia in a warm glow that begins to heal her wounds in exchange for putting her to sleep, I kiss her lips. She closes her eyes, a peaceful - a redeemed expression on her face, as she slips away into slumber.
Placing the black angel on the ground gently, I turn to look at my main reason for being here. I erect a spherical barrier of light around the three of us when the second salvo of laser shots are let loose on us.
"Kamii..." I mutter and look the little dark elf in her violet galaxy eyes.
"Onee-sama..." She returns my gaze, unexpected calmness and maturity in her features. Physically, she hasn't aged a day, but it feels like the years left their mark on her soul nonetheless.
I spread my arms, hoping that she will jump into them like she used to do before. With a surprised expression, she looks me up and down, then lowers her head. For a second, I fear that she may reject me, thinking I abandoned her when I never returned in such a long time.
But then she bridges the few steps that separate us, and throws her entire weight into me, burying her face into my chest. I embrace her with all my heart, letting her know that I don't ever want to let go of her again. Under the dull impacts of the laser shots pelting my barrier of light, we hug for the longest time, ignoring our surroundings as if only we two exist in this world.
When we finally separate, I suppress the tears from coming up as I look down into Kamii's face. She's crying, but unlike a child's unsightly bawling, she's showing me a smile that breaks my heart to pieces and fully mends it again in the blink of an eye. I feel my love for the adorable little dark elf reaffirmed right there.
"Sorry to ruin your glorious moment, but I think I'm supposed to kill you here." A deep voice tears through the silence that has surrounded us after the laser volley stopped, and I spin my head around to see just in time how the dark-skinned man towering above me breaks through my barrier of light by literally walking through it. He wears a wholly unenthusiastic expression, looking not in the least interested in fighting here.
The minotaur and boar demon are lying on the ground unmoving, most likely taken down instantly. I should be careful about this individual; if he isn't a Chosen Knight, then he's an Old Human. The fact he could just walk through my barrier like that is evidence enough that he's extraordinary.
"Stand back, Kamii." I stand in front of the little dark elf to cover for her and glare up at the giant. "Who are you?"
"They call me Oinos, Walker of the Wild." Shrugging, he introduces himself as one of the gods of the humans - in other words, an Old Human.
"Interesting. You gave me your name even though you said you would be killing me here." I step forward with a fearless grin. If being disintegrated into a fine mist doesn't kill me, I doubt anything else really can. I would have to be thrown into the sun to die, most likely. "Do you doubt your own abilities?"
"Oh, the possibility of an upset always exists." Oinos seems very carefree and nonchalant even when he entertains the notion that he may be the one to die instead. "But it's highly unlikely."
I walk forward, growing in size with every step until I stand right before him in the appearance of Korenga. Even though I'm still shorter than him, we're almost eye to eye now. The only reason I took on her appearance was to rectify her absence in this situation that was so obviously made for her - two muscleheads squaring off.
"Interesting." The man with the green beard remarks. Only now do I realize that his eyes are completely white, with not a hint of irises or pupils. Rather than being glazed over or covered by something, they look strangely natural that way.
Seeing as he isn't making the first move, I increase the density in my arm to the point where it should be able to crush steel and perform a devastating hook to his face.
The motion is stopped as if I just punched an impenetrable wall and my arm cracks. Drawing back, I look at the broken limb with an eyebrow raised. While it wasn't nearly all of my power, the difference in hardness does make me want to scratch my head.
Something hits me in the face, and my vision performs a seven-hundred twenty. Luckily, I don't have a spine, or my neck would have been ground to dust just now. Oinos very obviously hit me, but I didn't see it at all, even though I secretly put the dragonfly compound eyes into the human-looking ones of my current appearance.
Wordlessly, I increase the density in my entire body as I swing at the man's solar plexus. But once again, my fist cracks and nearly shatters without even causing him to flinch, let alone stagger. This was how much power I used to lift Korenga off the ground that time I fought her when she went out of control over my children. He's on a higher level than her, whose body seemed impervious to damage but still followed the law of momentum.
Once again, I feel an impact, now in my solar plexus - only that it blows a hole through my chest and out my back. Even with my increased density, his attack was still able to do this much damage. Maybe the physical approach isn't the best here, and I should explore a solution through the Imagination Engine.
But before that, I'll take care of something else.
My gaze falls on the old man standing behind Oinos, watching our battle with a curious smile. Lifting a finger in his direction, I shoot a laser beam straight through his forehead. It's a smaller version of the superlaser the battle station fired at me, but it was just as fast.
A sizzling hole opens in his forehead, as his eyes roll up as if to look at it. Then the old man collapses forward and falls to the ground, staying still without even a twitch. I know he's one of the Old Humans, so I don't doubt for a second that he's still alive.
"Oh, can't beat me, so you're going for the old man?" Oinos looks behind himself, appearing not at all worried. "Too bad that's just a spare."
"Can I safely assume that his real body is up there?" Pointing at the sphere floating above us, I ask casually.
"Yeah, he doesn't like to come out in person much." Shrugging like someone who has given up trying to convince a shut-in, he replies without a care in the world. He must be sure that there's no way I can take that thing down.
"So if I make that thing go boom, he would die forever?" Even though the topic is such a macabre one, I say it with a friendly smile.
"I think so. He's not the strongest when it comes to physical abilities." Oinos reveals another piece of information about the old man. "But before that, I'll be taking you down."
"Is that so?" I grow my arm, swing my body around and grab him in the same motion. Then I lift him up and throw him as far as I can.
Or at least that was the plan, but he seems to be rooted to the very ground. Either he's incredibly heavy, or he's using the Imagination Engine to anchor himself in space. Whichever it is, my plan to move him out of the city to reduce collateral damage - especially to Kamii and Hestia only a dozen steps behind me - has failed.
"Hm, what was that?" Spreading his arms and breaking out of my grip, Oinos asks with his head tilted and an eyebrow raised.
"Here I thought we could maybe move out of the city and find an empty place where we don't destroy people's home when we go all-out." It might be useless, but I'm technically appealing to his humanity.
"Thinking it's even going to be a prolonged battle, huh?" Shaking his head with a smile, as if he's reprimanding a naughty child, he spreads his arms slightly. "I'm going to end this now."
"Are you now." Increasing my density to the maximum, the ground under my feet cracks and gives way. Before I sink into the pyramid, I begin to float in place, making it look like I'm standing still. This should be what Exla does when she packs all her two million tons of weight into that small body because I doubt she has the same convenient dimensional pocket inside her as I do.
But then I realize that floating in midair defeats the purpose of increasing my weight - before an impact sends me flying backward into the wooden stands, scattering the lizardfolk sitting there. Luckily, I could catch myself, or I would have traveled quite a distance from that just now.
Looking up, I see a white-scaled female lizard with a long neck. Then she's obscured by a group of what appear to be warriors, wielding weapons that are essentially paddles with sharp rocks laid into them. They remind me of the Petsobek under Nilotec in that they're all burly lizardmen, but while the former have crocodile heads, these are more like dinosaurs.
"Impressive. This one was meant to scatter you across the city." The giant man in question slowly steps toward me with an expression that doesn't look impressed at all.
"I'm not so easy to get rid of." Getting up and walking past the lizard warriors, I meet Oinos halfway. We stand one step apart, staring into each other's eyes with unconcerned expressions. I smile because I know the physical type can't hurt me, and he's confident that I can't put a scratch on him either.
"Would I get an upset stomach if I ate you?" I ask with a grin, attempting a different approach altogether. Eating an Old Human who has access to the Imagination Engine might not be the best idea.
"It would feel like something's trying to claw its way out from inside you." Oinos replies with a heartfelt smile of his own.
In the next moment, I deliver a punch that breaks the sound barrier with an audible bang. At the same time, the Old Human's fist lands in my face in the fabled cross-counter.
And for the first time, my attack causes him to move. But I feel my cheek cracking open from the impact of his punch, even when I'm at maximum density. While it's easily mended, I can't help but feel anxious about his strength; it doesn't look like he's going all-out yet, while I'm already using all I have.
"Can you ask Exla about Oinos?" I request of Senka in my mind as I draw a step back and let the crack on my face close up. The dark-skinned man doesn't pursue me and touches his cheek with an amused expression.
"Color me surprised. I actually felt that." But his calmness tells me that he still doesn't consider me a potential threat to his life.
"Come here, and I'll let you feel some more." Waiting for Senka's reply, I gesture at Oinos to be the one to step forward.
"Please do." Doing so unhesitatingly, he follows my request.
"Oinos isn't an Old Human." Senka's voice echoes through my head. "Even if the Imagination Engine didn't exist, Oinos would still be an existence close to a god."
"What does that even mean? There are a lot of weak gods in mythology." I think while readying myself for another cross-counter.
"Is he weak?" Senka sasses me.
Before I can reply, I hit the ground face-first, causing the entire pyramid to quake from my impact. I look up at Oinos who looms over me with a surprised expression.
"Did the world move for you too, sweetheart?" He quips with a grin. "It must have; you did crack the ground after all."
"Exla says that even she wouldn't be able to defeat him as long as Alverost is alive." Explaining in a concerned tone, Senka flickers into my vision. "Take Kamii and Hestia, and get out of there."
"Nah, that just means I have to kill Alverost first." Getting back up on my feet, I crack my neck. Then I remember that I don't have a spine in this form - and even if I did, my current density wouldn't leave room for any bubbles in my cartilage to be popped to get the cracking sound. "Well, that was awkward."
"If you weren't an enemy I'm supposed to kill I'd take you as my wife." Oinos shakes his head with an expression that suggests regret.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm not interested in men." I revert my appearance from Korenga's form to my usual one and stare up at him with a frown. He's really huge when I'm at my normal height.
"Who am I to judge? But you'd come around to appreciate me in particular if you just gave it a go." Shrugging, he doesn't let my sexual orientation dissuade his advances - which are ultimately pointless since he wants to kill me.
"I prefer to give, not take." My hand turns into a stake, then my entire arm compresses into a barrel-shaped form, and the stake retracts inside it. In the next moment, I create an explosion inside the chamber behind the stake, taking a page out of the launcher with which I shot Korenga into Roamukao. The stake is expelled at several times the speed and force at which I could throw a punch; it's an organic pile bunker.
For the first time since our encounter, Oinos moves to dodge; he turns his body sideways, and my spike slides off his abs, drawing sparks and leaving behind a shallow cut. What emerges isn't blood, but a golden liquid. Is he made of gold inside?
"Interesting." Aurelia's voice comes from behind me just then, and I turn around. Think of the devil, and she appears.
"And what a sweet devil she is." I wink at her, and she gives me a gentle smile. Then she returns her gaze to Oinos, and her eyes turn cold, as her lips curl up in amusement.
"Before you try, this isn't gold." Touching his wound and bringing up the stained fingers, he explains without the onset of fear and panic I would have expected from him at this point. "Just some liquid on which I run."
"What are you?" I ask him with a skeptical look. Senka did tell me he wasn't human, but his words make it sound like he's actually a robot.
"Not a human, that's for sure." Remaining mysterious, Oinos looks at me with an almost lonely smile. The wound closes up, and not even a scar remains. "But to think you put a scratch on me... I like you more and more."
"Stop flirting with me and fight." Suppressing the urge to shudder, I prepare to launch another pile bunker shot while he lifts his arms into the semblance of a slightly defensive stance for the first time. It would seem he has become wary of my new means of attack.
Before either of us can make a move, sunlight floods the pyramid. I look up to see that the battle station hasn't moved out of the way of the sun and that an intensely glowing orb of light is coming toward us instead. I've witnessed this phenomenon before, back in Kairaki. But I wore self-grown dark lenses at the time, so it's much more intense now. The lizardfolk throw themselves on the ground, clearly understanding what's going to happen next.
The blinding orb comes to a stop a few meters above the pyramid, and the light fades away to reveal Areteniha, God of the Sun.
"Tonatihuatl!" The lizardfolk cry out in unison and begin to undulate as they repeatedly prostrate themselves ceaselessly.
"Grandmother." Oinos only gives her a nod, like a teenager forced to acknowledge the presence of their elders.
"I was called by the Suncaller Ritual, but what is this? What are you doing here, Chaos?" She lets her beaming gaze move across the pyramid platform, taking in the destruction and corpses. Then her gaze falls on Alverost's spare body. "Care to explain why my child is dead?"
Areteniha is Alverost's mother? Uh-oh.
