meakashi
patreon
Chapter 93 - The Man Who Sold The World
🕑 Added 2018-04-19 23:13:21 +0000 UTC "AAAHHH!!!""[Monster!]"
"[Help meee!]"
"[Nooo!!!]"
A choir of voices filled with absolute terror reaches me, and I feel the onset of ecstasy. Hundreds of human soldiers have already disappeared into my body, as I roll through the main street of Kairaki as a wave of flesh and tentacles.
The enemies are scattering, not even trying to put up a fight at this point, and all those who are caught in my path are swallowed whole. None can escape my cosmic hunger, even though my aim is only to get to the pyramid in the center of the city as quickly as I can. I leave those running into the side streets to my children, who haven't completely let go of their forms as I have.
In this form, I can see in every direction at the same time, and I can tell that the Tokomaha army, and Mereana near the front of it, have stopped following me. I'm sure they must be scared witless of me right now, but I just want to put an end to this quickly; Tahiri, Awhina, and Korenga are still fighting outside the city.
Even now, I still have the presence of mind not to break into the surrounding houses with my almost liquid-like form, and eating all the civilians. My morals aren't so far gone, yet. I think it may also be the only saving grace I have in everybody else's eyes because I'm limiting myself to soldiers - those who step onto the battlefield prepared to kill. For me, those who are prepared to kill should also be prepared to die.
Now, I wonder whether there will be some other members of the Six Arms coming out to greet us or they'll just let us go all the way to the palace first. I'd prefer they come out and attack us one by one, but I assume that the two bodyguards are going to be staying with the God King. Rapania will most likely have set a trap in the palace, too.
The God Fist is the one I'm wondering about the most. He or she must be someone above Pakangaroa's level to be appointed to a higher station than the literal God of War - who's going toe to toe with Korenga in her Black God form.
Just when I think this the city wall is pierced from the outside and a crimson figure crashes through the debris. A second explosion of rocks and dust follows, and Korenga flies after her ex-husband. They clash in midair and crash into the city below. Every blow that follows in their fight causes the very air to tremble.
I suppress a shudder. I wouldn't want to be over there, not even with all this mass that I have. As has been the case with every opponent lately, I haven't been able to swallow any of them. So, I'm sure the same is true for Pakangaroa. It seems like my defining trait has diminished by quite a bit.
With these thoughts, I clear the streets from the human rabble and roll onto the plaza before the palace walls. Obviously, they're not as tall as the city walls, but they're still sizeable. At the same time, barriers like that pose no obstacle to me, as I pull all my matter together and turn into my humanoid form again.
The soldiers at the gates realize that they have no means of stopping me and scatter away, their morale completely shattered. I whip my arm around and grab one of them, before reeling him in from a distance.
"[Which floor-]" I begin to ask, but realize that the whiplash just now broke his neck. Oops, I didn't consider how fragile human beings are. Pulling him into my body, I try again but make sure to be more careful this time.
The victim is a young man barely of age. His eyes are filled with overwhelming fear, to the point where he doesn't even try to struggle and only mutters a prayer for salvation.
"[Which floor is the God King on?]" I ask him, but he keeps his eyes pressed shut and continues to prattle down meaningless word after word. Tightening my grip on his body, I hear his bones creak. "[Hey, I'm talking to you.]"
"[I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!]" He squeezes out between his whimpers of pain.
"[Then tell me what I want to know.]" I speak coldly.
"[The topmost balcony leads to the king's chambers!]" With his eyes pressed shut, he quickly reveals what I want to know. His fear of me is stronger than his loyalty to the king at this moment. "[I told you, so please let me live!]"
I drop the boy carelessly and walk forward while looking up to the palace. I hear him scrambling to get away before a terrified scream emerges from the direction he tries to run into. It's cut short by a squelching noise, and then there's only silence.
"[Oh, you already caught up to me, huh?]" I look over my shoulder and find Uten and Saten standing behind me, in their human forms once more. "[Did you eat your fill?]"
"[We feel like we could go for much more.]" They reply in unison, and I smile.
"[Don't we ever?]" With a shrug, I point up at the pyramid. "[The God King is up there somewhere. Let's go.]"
I recreate the Chaos Warhead lite version and take off into the skies. Looking back one last time, I find that Tokomaha and Mereana have begun moving again, and are coming towards the palace as well. They'll join up with us soon enough, but I'm sure the gate to the courtyard will pose a little problem to them.
Raising my arm, I expand it to a gigantic size and cover it in dragon armor. Then I bring it down like a titan's hammer, crushing the entire gatehouse and a section of the wall, flattening it to the ground. Before the arm's weight pulls me down, I return all the matter into the infinite depths of my body.
There, they should be able to follow quicker now.
"[Stay close to the pyramid, watch out for the storm above.]" I warn the twins. Lightning is flashing through the dark clouds and whirlwinds are whipping the air, a testament to the fact that the God of Storm is still embroiled in a battle with her children. Maybe she's having such a hard time because of the number's advantage?
Flying along the wall of the pyramid, we ascend its side quickly. I can feel the presence of more than a dozen humans on the first balcony, so I come to a stop, to see who's there. At our sight, some of them stare in fear and others run away blindly. An archer fires an arrow at me, but it misses, and I punish his attempt with a plasma shot that melts his upper body away.
In the center of these people, most of whom are wearing military uniforms, stands a table with a map and some wooden figures on top of it. I assume they're the commanding brass, but none of them look like a king, so I have no reason to deal with them here. It might come back to bite me later, but I don't want to chase down every human, thinking they play an important role later.
The second balcony features a garden, but I don't detect any human presences in there, so I don't even slow down to see what it looks like.
Finally, we reach the uppermost balcony, which is less than half as big as the second one. There's a much smaller garden here, and beyond it are closed shutters of richly carved mahogany-like wood covered in golden ornaments. Those look like they could lead to a rich person's chambers, so I land amidst the greenery and flowers.
I push open the shutters, preparing myself for an ambush the moment I do. On the other side, I find a beautiful bedroom instead. The interior is filled with lavish decorations such as painted vases and statues of perfect human forms. The giant canopy bed, which could hold ten people, is dressed with silken curtains and covered with satin sheets.
But the God King isn't here.
The humans my Chaos senses picked up were the four gorgeous women lying naked and sleeping on the bed. It seems they were involved in lovemaking until only moments ago, judging by their appearances as well as the smell in the air. The fact that they were going at it with no regard for the battle raging outside tells me that these must be part of the king's harem. And the king must have been sure of his victory.
Well, I would have been as well, if I had been told that a group of only eight people is attacking. Having the God of War and the Child of the Sun around surely added to his confidence.
"[Mama...]" Uten and Saten are looking at the forms of the women with clear interest.
"[Not now. You can take them later, when we're done here.]" I shut them down immediately before they get funny ideas. This really isn't the time to let your libido run wild.
I wonder where the God King went. Assuming they finished only moments ago, he could even be in the bathroom and might walk back in here without a care in the world.
The sound of water flushing comes from a door to the left, and I spin my head around to it. Then the door opens and out comes a bearded man in his mid-forties with light brown skin and wearing a silken bathrobe. He has his long hair tied into a bun on the top of his head and an innocuous look in his golden eyes.
How did I not notice him with my Chaos Senses? Now that he appeared before me, I can actually feel his presence.
"[Huh, who are you?]" He sees my children and me and asks without a worry in the world. "[I didn't call for more. And aren't you two a little young?]" Pointing at the twins, he tilts his head with an eyebrow raised.
This guy must be almost blind not to notice our appearances. We don't look like concubines at all, especially since our bodies are covered in dragon armor. Maybe he thinks we're doing cosplay for him or something like that.
"[Are you the God King?]" I turn my left arm into a spike and extend it all the way up to the man's throat before asking him in a firm tone. It's an unmistakable statement that he shouldn't waste my time here.
"[Woah!?]" His eyes widen in shock, and he steps back.
"[No, that can't be. Are you a double?]" I glare at him, and he shrinks back. That's not the kind of behavior one would expect from someone who could make real gods move for him. Could it be that I got the wrong room? This guy must be a fake, and the real one is waiting like a last boss in the throne room or something.
"[Oh, no no. I'm not a double.]" For some reason, he doesn't seem concerned enough about this situation, but at the same time, he doesn't have the regal bearings of a king. It's like he doesn't fear for his life at all. Maybe he's one of the Six Arms or even the God Fist himself?
"[So you're the king?]" I stare at him with a skeptical expression.
"[Indeed, I am.]" Puffing up his chest with the kind of prideful mannerism a commoner imagines a king to have, he tries to speak with regal bearing.
"[Then I'll have you die here.]" I pull the spike back demonstratively, motioning to stab him in the chest. In reality, I'm not actually planning on actually doing it without getting some information out of him first. If I really wanted to kill him, I could have done it without giving him time to react. His behavior is completely different from how I pictured him.
"[W-wait!]" Raising his arms in a gesture of surrender, he loses his composure.
"[Tell me the truth now.]" Placing the spike on his throat and poking him slightly, I emphasize my position of power over him.
"[I'm Makanui, the one known as the God King of Adanak.]" The man starts and flinches when I glare at him. "[But I'm actually only playing this role.]"
What?
Others Side
"[You lost your edge, mama!]" The voice of Aratio of the Whirlwind echoes through the air, accompanied by laughter. She has always been the playful type and inherited Tahiri's unrestrained nature. To her, life itself is a game, and she can easily gain and lose interest in things within mere moments. The fact that she joined her brothers here is most likely just another one of her whims, and she could leave at any moment when she becomes bored.
"[It's time to leave the stage for the next generation!]" Tewira of the Lightning announces and calls down a bolt of plasma, fully aware of the fact that his mother's body is just a projection. His personality is the culmination of Tahiri's wrath, and he has been angry at everything since he could remember. He was the most likely candidate to one day attempt to overthrow his mother to cement his position in the sky.
Aopori of the Dark Cloud never spoke more than three words in one sentence, and rarely more than nine words a day. Despite the fact that he inherited Tahiri's rare moments of deep resentment, he has always tried to rebel against her by being more forgiving than any of his siblings.
The God of Storm's battle against her children is a wholly defensive one. Even though she acted tough before Chaos, she actually cannot bring herself to fight them seriously. She knows that she can avoid all the attacks they throw at her, and she has ways by which she could take them down. After all, they only represent an aspect of her full powers.
"[Fight us!]" Tewira roars and turns himself into a living lightning bolt, shooting straight for his mother. However, she merely turns her body into a fine mist like the interior of a cloud, and his rage-filled attack passes through her.
"[Come on, mama. This isn't fun at all.]" With a pout, Aratio flies past Tahiri, and uses her wind to try and scatter her very own mother into pieces. Once again, the God of Storm thwarts the attempt by turning into lightning herself.
Aopori's dark clouds swirl about and close in from all sides in an attempt to swallow his mother's energy and disperse it across the skies. A strong whirlwind rises around her, to blow apart the gathering clouds.
This back and forth has continued since the start, and all this time, Tahiri has avoided raising her powers against her children. Ever the drifter, she had left them when they were still young so that they had grown up without the love and warmth of their mother.
"[This is getting boring.]" Aratio floats on her side in midair, propping up her head with a hand and acting like she's lying on a bed. She embraces her whimsical nature like no other of Tahiri's children. "[What did you even come here for, mama?]"
"[Why won't you fight?!]" Tewira balls up his fists in unbridled fury and discharges a whole storm of lightning bolts, which all pass through his mother impotently.
"[For that creature?]" Aopori speaks, just loud enough for his mother to overhear him. He would never waste his words on idle talk, always carefully choosing what to say. This time as well, he is spot on in his deduction.
"[Then I'll kill that thing.]" Looking through an opening in the clouds to spot Chaos, who is charging into Kairaki's defense army at the front of a company composed of Tokomaha clones, the child of lightning grinds these words through his teeth. "[It's just like an aspect of Mataku.]"
Suddenly, dark clouds explode outwards from Tahiri's body and expand in all directions. Tewira quickly takes his distance, fearing that his mother could absorb his powers.
"[Ohhh, do you finally feel like fighting?]" The child of whirlwind creates a barrier of wind around herself and scatters the clouds coming towards her. Her eyes light up with joy at the prospect of finally being able to go all out against her mother. "[Let's get started!]"
"[No.]" Tahiri's voice echoes through the skies, a menacing rumble like the rolling thunder before an all-out storm."[I'm putting an end to this.]"
"[What is your name, young girl?]" The man with a body of pure gold asks while riding on a wave of the same. He has been going at it leisurely, his control over his element as exquisite as the element itself. It's a testament to his abilities that he can conduct small talk in the middle of a battle like this.
He is Kouratua, the God of Gold. His rotund appearance and boisterous personality would be more befitting of a minister, and his financial capabilities did land him the seat of Treasurer of the Kingdom. However, unexpectedly, he displayed incredible combat skills as well, using his uncanny control over gold to hold his own against even the most powerful gods of the God King's army. Thus, he was elevated into the ranks of the Six Arms.
"[Awhina!]" Out of breath and with beads of sweat glistening on her chocolate skin, the demigoddess still finds the time to respond.
"[Just Awhina? No family name?]" With an eyebrow raised, Kouratua asks in a skeptical tone.
"[Huh? What are you saying?]" Awhina creates a barrier of flowing stone to block a spike shooting out from the wave of gold her opponent is riding. "[Who ever has a family name?]"
"[Right.]" Clearing his throat, the rotund man puts his arms behind his back in a relaxed stance, and tendrils of gold rise all around him. He used this method several times before, utilizing those tendrils to get through the gaps of Awhina's still inexperienced defenses.
"[You're weird.]" The village girl raises a wall in anticipation of the incoming attack, but it doesn't come right away.
"[Say, girl. Why are you here?]" Stalling his assault, Kouratua leans forward while scratching his pencil mustache and asks.
"[You attacked my village!]" Seeing how the God of Gold doesn't attack, Awhina raises her arm and creates spikes of dirt and rock to throw them at her opponent.
"[Is that so? What did you hope to achieve by coming here?]" With a simple thought, the wave of gold undulates to avoid the attack. Bringing himself to eye-level with the demigoddess while hanging upside down, Kouratua continues his inquiries.
"[We'll depose the God King so that our village will be safe.]" Not letting her opponent overwhelm her, Awhina slides backward while creating a giant wave behind herself, aiming to cover the rotund god and his entire pool of gold with it
"[Who will reign then?]" Following her retreat, Kouratua turns himself upright and extends his footing towards her. "[You?]"
"[No, but someone wiser than the current king!]" She raises both her arms and a wall cuts her off from her opponent. Then the wave of dirt she created earlier comes crashing down on him.
Suddenly, the wall before her cracks open and a large mass of gold presses through it. Stunned, Awhina stares at it, as the front opens up like a flower, to reveal Kouratua. His impressive figure towers half a head over her, and his body is easily three times as wide as hers. He turns his head and looks around, finding that he's now inside a giant dome of dirt.
"[Wait.]" He gestures for a ceasefire when he sees the demigoddess trying to go for a preemptive attack. "[We can talk in here without worrying about someone overhearing us.]"
"[... why would I want to talk to you?]" She asks with a frown, preparing her mind to make the entire dome crash down on the man of gold the moment he makes a wrong move.
"[Because that necklace can separate your pretty little head from the rest of your body with but a thought from me.]" Pointing at Awhina, Kouratua states with a shrug which suggests that he wouldn't mind if she tried to fight.
She looks down at herself and finds that a beautiful necklace made from interlinked rings of gold is floating around her neck. She didn't notice until he pointed it out, but apparently, it was put there just moments ago. How is he controlling it from a distance? He never showed any signs of being able to do that, or he could have used much more powerful methods to attack her before.
"[Now, let's talk.]" Ripples form on Kouratua's stomach and extend all the way across his large body before a hole opens up in the center and reveals a hollow interior.
From inside emerges a naked woman, whose body is as golden as the rotund man she inhabited.
"[What is your relationship with Chaos?]" Looking down on Awhina despite being a head smaller, Aurelia asks in an arrogant tone with her arms crossed in front of her modest chest.
