Chapter 38: We're Here to Take Over!
In the royal palace, Vel'Asha's eyes opened, trembling as the Queen Mother struggled to move her limbs.
"Morning, sunshine," a playful voice came from Vel'Asha's left, and to the Queen Mother's shock, Cassandra was standing beside her, with her foot pressed on Gaiseric's scorched neck.
"It's your boytoy, isn't it? You're not that reckless. This type of mad and irrational behavior feels nothing like you and reeks of boyish immaturity. It must be your boytoy who put you up to this.
I should have been more direct and captured that country-destroying rascal without hesitation. But I got greedy and overly cautious, leading us into this disaster.
Because yes, Cassandra, while you might think you've pulled off the heist of the century, by derailing Gaiseric and Lysander's destinies, you've doomed us all," watching the variety of fourth-degree burns all over Gaiseric's body, Vel'Asha said—her tone weak and deflated.
Interestingly, though they'd both been burned by the Red God's divine flames, Vel'Asha's body showed no blemish, not even a red patch.
"There is no need to be so dramatic now is there? Who knows, I might be here to help you." Cassandra's lips curled up, and she stomped on Gaiseric's neck, making the barely surviving king spasm nonstop.
"You bloody idiots. The Blood-Smelting Kingdom's destiny will impact myriad planes and realities. And Lysander was the most important part of that destiny. If as I fear you've derailed his fate, then dear troublemakers…all the benefits in the world won't be able to save you from the catastrophe you've just triggered," Vel'Asha said in a disturbingly calm tone.
Meanwhile, a disturbing scene occurred in the wedding venue. Mithras hovered in the air, held in suspension by over 20 pairs of black and white hands that grabbed every piece of his body they could get a hold of.
A gigantic silver chart appeared in the ground, with a monstrous mouth and jagged fangs that clacked in expectation for Mithras' flesh.
But as the situation reached a stalemate, silver chains shot out of the monstrous mouth, wrapping around Mithras' limbs, and helping the hands drag him down.
"Alright…I will admit I didn't expect the remnant of a saint-class ability to be this troublesome," Mithras said with a wry smile.
Mithras needed to use all his strength to prevent the hands from dragging him towards the fangs. But no matter what he tried, they wouldn't let go. Even reducing the hands into particles didn't help. New hands would replace them, increasing the pressure on Mithras' bones.
It was as if nature itself was cooperating with the Destiny Chart, helping make sure its last prediction would become reality. And now that those chains had joined the struggle, it was indeed only a matter of time before Mithras' body gave out and got yanked into that hideous mouth.
The situation was far from ideal. But as Mithras' bones threatened to buckle under the pressure, Nagini threw herself at the monstrous mouth, expanding into a large red dragoness, with massive red wings that sparkled like rubies.
Bright red flames leaked from Nagini's mouth, condensing into a ball of hyper-concentrated red fire as Mithras' pet dragoness fired into the Destiny Chart's fangs.
But to the audience's shock, the Destiny Chart avoided Nagini's assault altogether, teleporting to another location, and causing Mithras' chains to break momentarily.
'Interesting...let's try this then.'
[Primal Strength]
[Divine Burst]
Seizing the opportunity, Mithras activated his two mantras, becoming a miniature sun of disjointed red, dark and white energies as he hurtled at the Destiny Chart.
Akin to a celestial body, Nagini came crashing down, bringing weight and firepower that threatened to reduce the Astalon domain into smoke and rubble. Again, the Destiny Chart avoided Nagini, teleporting out of her way. But this time around, Mithras reduced his weight to zero, holding himself in suspension while he followed the Destiny Chart with his Exalted Sense.
The moment the Destiny Chart reappeared, Nagini went back after it, expanding to the limit, and forcing the chart to teleport closer to Mithras. In that instant, Mithras' scarlet flames lit up the Red Priest, his torch-bearing apprentices, and brainwashed flame dancers.
They didn't scream. On the contrary, all fell to their knees, spreading their arms wide and singing prayers to welcome the call of their god. About 23 orbs of scarlet flames shot into the sky, gathering in a king-class ebony dagger summoned by Mithras.
Mithras's speed went through the roof, leaving a succession of sonic booms in his wake as he charged into the Destiny Chart's jagged mouth, and stabbed the ebony dagger into the chart's core.
The essence of the 23 detonated at once, blasting through the Destiny Chart, and contaminating its remains with the memories and experiences of those hardcore Red God believers.
The Destiny Chart's blood rained down Mithras' face, and it broke down.
'You p-piece of shit…the Weaver will bring you to justice!' As if carrying a will of its own, the Destiny Chart roared with its last effort, vanishing the moment next.
"If the Weaver cared about justice the same way it cared for destiny, the world would enjoy eternal peace," Mithras said with a sigh of disappointment, stretching while walking towards Honoria.
All memories and mentions of Lysander vanished here, erased as the fallen prince's destiny became Mithras' latest cheat code.
He had never existed.
"The Destiny Chart couldn't maintain its curse while entangling with non-sinners, so you made it overload with the vital essence and experiences of non-sinners?"
"That plus a little immolation curse of mine," Mithras answered Honoria's question, storing the ebony dagger in his storage ring before leaning over, and raising the beauty's chin.
"I didn't know the Red God's Pyrogasmic Genesis could steal vital essence," Honoria asked without dodging eye contact.
"Who said it can?"
"It can't?"
"Of course not. That's demonic stuff. An antigod maybe, but a god wouldn't bestow that type of power.
I didn't kill or sacrifice those people. On the contrary, I gave them what they wanted: the Red Cloud Paradise," Mithras whispered, causing scarlet energy strands to latch upon Honoria.
"AAAAAH…ahah?" At first, the noble lady panicked, expecting to get lit on fire just like the others before. But the expected barbecue didn't come, and Honoria realized she was screaming for nothing.
"Pyrogasmic Genesis has several useful abilities. But this one only works on people who are willing to die for the Red God. I can directly send those people's souls to the Red Cloud Heaven where they get to become the Red God's servants. In exchange, their mortal bodies become mine to do with as I like. And approval is optional.
Pretty fair if you ask me." Mithras explained with a mischievous smirk, pulling on the chains of Honoria's collar so that her lips neared his.
"They don't get a say."
"Nope, as long as they're willing to die for the Red God, they can't resist," Mithras said, grabbing Honoria by the waist, and nibbling on her lips.
"Devious. You truly are devious." Honoria didn't resist. On the contrary, her hands reached for Mithras' crotch, stroking the bulge on his pants.
"If you're going to play a game, you might as well aim for the win. The king of this nation made us play his game without considering we might be well equipped to take the W. Jokes on him because as a brilliant scoundrel once said, we're not here to take part." Here, Mithras grabbed Honoria's cunt, activating the Pyrogasmic Genesis.
Consuming heat waves ran through the noble lady's body, and like a succubus in heat, Honoria grabbed Mithras' arm, rubbing his hand up and down her cunt while licking his neckline.
Stirred by the effort, Mithras leaned in, whispering in Honoria's ear:
"We're here to take over."