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Chapter 114 - To The Promised City
🕑 Added 2019-01-06 18:07:37 +0000 UTC
What do I do now?
Tahiri and Aratio have disappeared, and Shelnir comes to tell me that I should go to Zohigal. The clan leaders then inform me that the southern barbarians aren't exactly in a friendly relationship with the Dominion and that very few know anything about them.
It just sounds like a trap, but the timing is too perfect for it to be a coincidence. The Guide of Tomorrow is most likely responsible for this and is now luring me into a trap. But as far as I could tell, there was no old crone like her among the people in the ritual hall where my mother died.
Knowing the Old Humans, they're still keeping the game alive. Otherwise, Zenlith would have called them together and attacked Arkaim right away. This is most likely part of their plan to return balance to this war so that the demons don't get wiped out. Otherwise, they would only be left with the boring humans.
And even if it's really just a trap in an attempt to kill me, it could be an opportunity to catch myself one of the Old Humans.
I'll reconvene with the clan leaders next morning and discuss how to proceed with them. Shelnir didn't give me a time limit, and knowing Tahiri, I doubt she's in trouble. So I don't need to up and leave right away, potentially leaving Arkaim right when another sneak attack is about to commence. Then again, it's questionable that the human offensive will ever recover from their loss here and the destruction of their supply base.
As I wander the castle without a destination in mind, I pass by Nymphy. She glances at me - or at least I think she does since her compound eyes are shaped like a jet pilot's visor and have no pupils - but doesn't say a word. I'm not in the mood for doing something tonight, so I feel bad for her.
No, I shouldn't let things get to me like this. Just like Aorutihaua, Tahiri and Aratio are fickle. Shelnir's appearance may be a complete coincidence, and they left on their own. They may be gone for a few days and return later as if nothing happened. Or they just returned home altogether because they felt like it, and I'll only ever see them again if I go to Adanak. But I shouldn't be too concerned with their absence. Judging by how it went last night, it wasn't because I lacked something, so my pride isn't hit either.
Then I should affirm that feeling.
"I'm free tonight." Stopping in front of Nymphy, I look down at her with an inviting smile. She looks surprised and then begins to fiddle with the hem of her maid skirt. Wordlessly, she nods, and I take her hand.
As we make our way to my room, we pass by several other maids. Most bow to me and don't show any thoughts on their faces, but some smile to Nymphy with encouragement, while others look a little jealous. I initially thought that Asoko had taken them all for herself, but it seems that wasn't the case, and plenty of them are still free.
But tonight, this dragonfly girl has my full attention. She has deserved it after waiting patiently and with understanding for these past days.
I open the door to my room and find the lights already on. Hestia is lying on my bed wearing glasses and nothing else. The expression on her face is one that stirs a base desire in me, and it nearly causes me to lose my form.
Then she sees Nymphy behind me, and her smile freezes over.
"Excuse me." The maid says and motions to leave, but I stop her.
"No, stay." I'll find another way to resolve this situation. Hestia is a yandere, but she's the type that's obedient to her love interest. She's not far enough gone to think she can get away with taking out anybody that gets close to me as the extreme cases would.
"Onee-sama?" Sitting up from the bed but not covering herself up despite being in the presence of what's essentially a stranger, she looks at me and then glances at Nymphy.
"I promised her tonight." Technically, I didn't settle on any specific day, but after tomorrow I might be on the move again. And since I intend to leave all the maids here while taking Hestia along, she'll get her chance then.
"Could I join you then?" But the fallen angel looks at me with upturned eyes, and my heart melts. She's saying that she would be fine to share me with somebody else during our night session. To think I would get a threesome two nights in a row is like a dream come true.
"Only if she's alright with it." Turning to Nymphy, I ask for her opinion. She may prefer to have me to herself or be uncomfortable with exposing her body to another person. But she thinks for a moment before nodding in assent.
Two winged girls coming up tonight then.
Beating her translucent wings with an audible buzzing sound, Nymphy shakes off the liquids that gathered on them from our activities last night. Hestia and I watch from the bed, the former looking at the quick cleaning method jealously. Her disheveled and sticky black feathers can't be cleaned as easily as that and will require some care.
The dragonfly girl's naked form under the lamp light is exotic and stunning to behold. Parts of her back, neck, and limbs are covered in chitin, and sharp blades grow from her forearms and shins. Luckily, my body is malleable and can instantly heal from cuts, or last night would have ended in a bloodbath.
Hestia concentrated on me alone and never even touched Nymphy. There were some apprehensions, for obvious reasons, but she should slowly warm up to the thought of sharing me with others, after realizing that I have more than enough skill and stamina to satisfy two at the same time - if not more.
"I shall return to my duties then." Bowing with a lovely smile after putting on her maid outfit, the dragonfly girl prepares to leave.
"You really don't need to push yourself. You can rest today." I have no doubts that she was completely exhausted last night, but she seems pretty chipper right now.
"I have gotten plenty of energy from you, Chaos-sama." Even though she doesn't have human eyes - and therefore, no eyelids - I could imagine her winking just now. "I will be able to work extra hard today."
With a spring in her step, she leaves the room, and I exchange a glance with Hestia. She's leaning on me and looks up with a blush, as if ready for another round. But I have a meeting to attend, and I can't put it off; today, I need to decide whether to go to Zohigal or not.
"Let me clean you up." I say and embrace the angel girl. Then I begin to cover her entire body with a membrane and clean off her surface from any remnants of our activities last night. Such bodily fluids used to bother me before, but now everything just registers as potential food.
When I peel myself off her and return to my usual form, a perfectly clean Hestia sits before me. She peers down at herself and looks surprised.
"Your body is incredible." That's all she can say while I get up from the bed.
"In more ways than one." Wiggling a finger, I grin. She blushes again, and her thighs twitch. Maybe that wasn't a good gesture; she may get aroused again. "Get ready. We're heading down for breakfast."
After hours of deliberation at the meeting, I finally put my foot down and made a decision. I'll go to Zohigal and take Hestia, Aurelia, and Tokomaha with me. Exla will stay to defend Arkaim, as she's the only one who can stand against the Old Humans. While I would have liked her with me in case I'm walking into a trap with several of them attacking me at the same time, I can't leave the capital undefended either.
If things go further south than we're already heading, I'll just take them all into my body and Chaos Warhead out of there. And this time I'll actually do it instead of just thinking about it.
As expected, Ophalen and Athilacia strongly protested that decision, and even Rewera spoke against me leaving the capital at such a crucial time. I reassured them that Senka would remain to maintain an open channel directly to me. In case something happened, I could come back within minutes.
Nobody was convinced, but they knew not to object to their ruler's decision for too long and accepted it reluctantly. While I know that the clan leaders argue for the safety of the people, I appreciate the fact that Rewera is looking out for my personal safety first. She saw two rulers of the Dominion die and clearly doesn't want that to happen a third time.
With the decision made, I prepared for the journey. Since nobody knows the exact location of this Zohigal - not even Senka - I'll need to travel to the southern jungles and find myself a local who can show me the way. While the maids ready supplies for a longer journey, I fly out onto the fields outside the city to practice my transformations.
"So senpai is going without me?" Exla comes down on a cloud arm beside me, while her main body in the form of the massive cumulonimbus cloud continues to till the land.
"Don't make it sound like I'm leaving you behind for good." I reply while taking on the form of a large plane like I did when I wanted to fly toward the capital of Adanak after the battle against Roamukao. Back then, I still tried to use magic to propel myself, but now I know that I can just fly without any form of propulsion.
"Shelnir appeared before you, huh? She's the worst out of the bunch." Lowering her gaze, the little girl on the cloud grows serious, as she looks into the cockpit where I created an avatar of myself. "The others are all oddballs or spoiled brats, but she's truly twisted. Her greatest pleasure is watching the suffering of 'lesser beings' as she calls them. She's like a child who uses a magnifying glass to burn ants."
"I see." To me, all the Old Humans that were present during my mother's death are evil as well. And maybe one of them was Shelnir in disguise - or the crone was a disguise - so the possibility that she was directly involved is high. In either case, I consider all of them enemies rather and won't hesitate to kill them when I see them. "I'm prepared."
With these words, I begin to take off from the ground effortlessly. Unlike the Chaos carrier, this one uses neither hot air not propellers, but flies by defying gravity itself. The jet engine pods are purely for show, but aesthetics are quite important to me, even if they aren't very useful. I could essentially transform into a flying sphere, and it would fulfill the same purpose.
"So you really don't know where Zohigal lies?" I ask Exla once again, in hopes she might recall something.
"I don't. That little nerd Alverost would know for sure, but I'm not that interested in this new world's geography since it could be changed again at any time." Shrugging, she replies as I expected she would. "But I don't know where he or any of the others could be right now."
"It's going to take a while to find it then." Sighing, I begin to accelerate from my hovering position and leave Exla behind. For a test, I fly in circles around the city, going faster and faster until I feel myself breaking the sound barrier with a loud bang, before being surrounded by silence.
Since I'll have people riding inside me, I can't go from resting speed to hypersonic as I normally would. My Crawling Chaos body ignores the laws of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, but those inside me don't, unless completely enveloped. And by now I know that our kind has something from outside the Imagination Engine's system, which is the unnatural aura we exude in our true forms - something that drives weak-minded beings mad. I don't want to subject Hestia or Tokomaha to it - even though I already have with the former a few times, with varying effects on her mind.
"Don't worry. I'll be here to protect this city." Exla says with a confident pat on her flat chest, when I slow down and land on the ground again.
"I'm counting on it. Thank you." I would have petted her head if she weren't in her giant form. But as if she realizes it, she picks me up and sets me down on her palm. "This is the weirdest feeling ever."
"Go on. I don't bite." She lowers her head, and I stand on tiptoes to touch her fluffy hair. Even though she's several magnitudes bigger than me, her hair doesn't have the corresponding thickness and is like a cloud. Considering she's most likely made of spread-out vapors, that's exactly what they would be then.
"I could have just turned bigger myself." When Exla places me back on the ground, I scratch my head.
"Where's the fun in that?" Grinning, the cloud arm on which she sits rises into the air and returns towards the cumulonimbus behind her. "See you soon then, senpai."
I wave at her as she grows smaller and smaller until she's only a speck that gets absorbed by the massive cloud. Once again, I'm reminded of her sheer size and the incredible mass that she has. But if there's one thing I learned, mass isn't everything, when you can turn a lot of your imagination into reality.
With this, my flight preparations are done.
"Will You not reconsider, Your Majesty?" Rewera stands in front of the maid corps, who have gathered in the courtyard to see me off, and tries one last time to persuade me. She could offer to come with me, but that thought doesn't seem to cross her mind. Or maybe something is keeping her here, and she doesn't want to leave.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be back before you know it. Until then, Exla will keep the city safe." I stand at the top of the stairs leading up to the door on the side of the jet plane I created from my body. Unlike in the Chaos carrier before, I'm no longer attached to it through a cable on my head, and the connection runs through my feet instead. This way, nothing is visible on the outside, and it's more aesthetically pleasing.
"I am not worried about the city, but Your safety." She didn't express it as explicitly before but finally comes out saying this.
"If I can survive being turned into fine mist, I'll be able to survive anything now." I wink at her, but she doesn't seem convinced. "You can come with me if you're that worried."
"No, my place is here." When I try to bring up the possibility, she refuses it instantly.
"To tell you the truth, nobody here could even hope to stall the gods, let alone protect me from them. At this point, it would be better for you all to stay out of a battle between them and me." Laying down the hard facts, I explain with a sigh.
"We would try nonetheless." Rewera states in a matter of fact tone, her face not betraying her emotions, and the Maid Corps nod in assent. I can tell that they're a little hurt that I think they're weak, and even the head maid looks piqued. Maybe my wording wasn't the best, and it opened old wounds when she's made to remember how she was unable to protect my mother.
"I appreciate that thought." I won't apologize or step down to comfort her and the other maids. It's a harsh truth that they'll have to live with and get over on their own. "Keep the castle safe until I return."
With these words, I step inside the jet and close the door. Even though there's no need, I walk through the central aisle toward the cockpit. The interior is shaped like that of a passenger plane, but there are only three big and comfortable seats for Hestia, Aurelia, and Tokomaha. The former has one specially shaped to accommodate her wings too.
"Ladies and ladies, this is Chloe Marcott, and I’m your chief flight attendant. On behalf of Captain Kuroe Makoto and the entire crew, welcome aboard Chaos Airlines flight 001, non-stop service from Arkaim to Zohigal." As before, I run this routine gag. Senka's projected imagine in my mind rolls her eyes and groans. She's staying in the castle to maintain an open line to me. "Our flight time will be of an as of yet unknown number of minutes. We will be flying at an altitude of around one thousand meters at a ground speed of a few thousand kilometers per hour."
Hestia glances at Aurelia and Tokomaha, who act like they don't know me, completely perplexed by me rattling down these lines. She must be thinking they're an incantation to make this strange form fly, or really wondering if I've gone crazy.
"At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position and that your seat belt is correctly fastened. Also, your portable electronic devices must be set to 'airplane' mode until an announcement is made upon arrival. Thank you."
Then I realize that there's one person too many on the plane, staring at me rattling down the routine flight announcement with a dumbfounded expression.
"... Vitalis, what are you doing here?" I materialize another body of mine right behind Hestia's seat and look down at the bubbling blue girl. "I wanted you to stay here and help organize things with Senka."
"I... I am always left out." She lowers her head and bubbles pop on top of her head.
"It's an important job." I try to persuade her, but she shakes her head.
"I want to be with you." This is the first time she's clearly stating her wishes, and I can't refuse that.
"Alright... you can come with me. But no melting." Sighing, I create another chair for her but make sure it's shaped in a way that she won't make a mess when her form dissolves from the speeds I'll be flying at. "I'm too soft, aren't I?"
"I love that about you too." Hestia is the one that answers, and I pet her hair.
"Ready for takeoff." With this, the second avatar I created behind the angel girl dissolves into the floor, and I sit my first avatar down at the front, before creating another one in the pilot's seat.
It's a lot of fun to play this out, as I randomly flip switches and press buttons on the fully recreated cockpit instrument board. I feel like a real pilot this way. The jet takes off vertically, as I simulate the sound of engines - reduced in volume, so it doesn't blow out the eardrums of the maids waving outside.
"You're a real child." Senka's projection sits on the copilot seat and has her arms crossed.
"Leave me be. This is an opportunity that might never come again." Grinning, I pull back a lever and begin to accelerate. "Let me have my fun while I still can."
Depending on what I find in Zohigal, it may be a long time before I can enjoy myself like this again.
Taragasura told me to make a stop in Ajurai before heading further south. Chandra's stronghold is the last settlement before the wilderness beyond and could serve as a base of operations. She was reluctant to tell me, but I knew she wanted a notice delivered there directly; asking royalty to be a messenger for a mere vassal is obviously considered inappropriate.
It's pretty much just a status report and asking for reinforcements if there are any to spare. I told Taragasura not to worry and to leave the fortress defended, as no more warriors are needed in Arkaim at the moment. I would still deliver the message though.
The rock formation on which the wooden building stands is surrounded by a settlement that looks unfit to be called a fortress. The walls aren't very tall and could be burned down easily. I guess the ajura are powerful warriors that fight better on open ground - and nobody would come this far south just to poke the hornet's nest. Humans know that the Ajura clan is the most powerful among the demons despite their small numbers after all.
"Welcome to Ajurai." The deputy commander Batamira greets me. Taragasura told me that he's Chandra's great-grandnephew and that his personality takes after her because he was the one that raised him. "Who may you be?"
"Can't you tell from looking at me? I'm Crown Princess Chaos." I stand my ground and stare up at the towering ajura, having taken on a form similar to my mother's. My entourage is behind me, looking around with varying expressions, as we're being surrounded by blue-skinned, six-armed warriors wielding three pairs of all kinds of bladed weapons.
As expected, Aurelia is the least worried, standing in the center without a care in the world. Tokomaha glances around, confident of her own superiority but still cautious like a cat. Hestia is indignant that anybody would threaten me and glares at them. Vitalis is scared of these powerfully built demons around us even though her body should be impervious to blades.
"You do look like the deceased demon queen. But we have not received word that the crown princess has returned." Batamira raises a bushy red eyebrow and scratches his chin with one of his six hands. "And you have strange companions with you."
I made a point in landing somewhere out of sight and completing the last stretch to the fortress on foot so that they don't see me transforming, but it was all for naught. Just like the commander of Erbilan, this one doesn't believe what he's told without proof. I think it's good to be skeptical like this, but it will get tiring after a while if I have to confirm my identity each time.
"Let's put that aside for now; I'm not here to stay for long. Taragasura wanted me to tell you that she would like more reinforcements in Arkaim since many were wounded during the siege four days ago." I start, and a whisper runs through the warriors surrounding us. "But I think you don't need to do that. This fortress is already pretty lightly defended as is."
"There was a siege in Arkaim?" That's the first question the deputy commander has. So nobody brought that information here? I know it's a long way from the capital, but I at least expected a messenger bird being sent out. Then again, we did travel nearly a thousand kilometers just now, so maybe it didn't arrive yet.
"Yes, but we resolved it." I gesture at the girls behind me. Technically, Tahiri and Korenga were involved as well, but there's no point to make this too complicated and go into details. "In either case, spread the word that I have returned, and that I will end this war soon."
With these words, I glance around, and the ajura mutter among each other in surprise.
"We're headed for Zohigal. I need assistance in finding my way there." Getting right to the point, I step forward and stand in front of Batamira fearlessly. He bends down and looks me in the eyes silently.
"Why do you want to go there?" Finally, after what feels like minutes of silent staring, he asks.
"Because someone's supposed to be waiting there for me." Replying in a matter of fact tone, I don't flinch under his gaze.
"Wasn't the group that passed here recently headed there as well?" The attendant standing behind Batamira whispers to him, but I overhear it.
"What group?" Now I'm interested. When the ajura glares at his attendant to shut him up, I let my patience slip. "Alright, we don't have time for this."
Cracking my knuckles and neck, I send unmistakable signals. Taragasura told me that, just like Chandra, her great-grandnephew would listen to fists more than to words. Even during wartime, he would be the type not to worry about giving away information as long as the opponent beat him in a duel.
"Do I have to beat it out of you or will you tell me now?" I give him one more chance to choose a way out of this without getting a bloody nose.
"Oh, you're on." He accepts the challenge without hesitation.
"After you." Curling up my lips into a confident smile, I gesture at the courtyard where two ajura warriors were wrestling when we first arrived. "Don't go crying to great-grandaunt Chandra when I beat you."
