AN Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years!
Batz's explanation, along with a few clarifications from Yad and Kass, had given Issei a clearer picture of the situation.
They were in a realm that wasn't on any maps. It was a pocket dimension that had been formed to keep others from stumbling across Nycrama, especially his cultists. Batz's tribe was one of a few who had offered to live in this realm to guard Nycrama's prison in exchange for the protection living here granted. There were secret "paths" into this realm, most outsiders didn't last once stumbling here.
The "altars" with the bowls were part of a system to keep Nycrama's influence at bay. By his very nature, Nycrama's essence still oozed from behind the seal and into reality. The bowls were there to keep it from growing and infecting anyone. The natives maintained the altars and emptied the bowls to keep them from overflowing, and risked the essence pouring over without being purified.
All that changed when that Polish scientist showed up. He survived his first encounter here and later returned with company. From what Batz said, the man had been fairly wealthy. At least, that's what Issei assumed, given that the man had come with soldiers, or mercenaries, along with other scientists. The Doctor had made a base of operations, and soon the tribes found themselves under attack by soldiers and zombies, even animal zombies.
"By the looks of it, that guy went crazy a while ago and turned everyone with him into a zombie," Issei remarked, recalling a zombie that looked to be another European in a lab coat.
"Does that mean this threat is at an end?" Batz asked curiously as he looked between the gods.
"Not quite," Yad retorted. "That fool of a scientist has been weakening Nycrama's seal. We need to fix it before we leave."
Batz looked apologetic. "I may not be able to help you, Ancients. None in my tribe have laid eyes upon the prison of the Unliving One for generations."
"You haven't?" Kass asked in surprise. "That's strange. I distinctly remember the seal being at the center of a city."
"A city?" Batz remarked in confusion. "Ohhh, you mean Chaab'olok! It has been abandoned for a great long many decades, ever since a great flood ruined the harvesting lands there."
"A random disaster gives our prisoner the chance he needs to wiggle his way free," Yad deduced with a hum.
"Thanks for the help, Batz. Head home, and try to keep everyone safe while we deal with this," Issei instructed, knowing that this man was likely just going to end up dead or worse if he came along.
"Yes, thank you, King of the Ancients," Batz acknowledged with a grateful bow before running off.
"So," Issei said after he left. "Spooky abandoned city that may or may not be a city of the undead. Definitely an interesting night," Issei remarked as he crossed his arms in thought.
"It is day here," Kass noted idly while pointing to the sky.
'Yeah, but it's still night back in Japan," Issei retorted, scratching his head. "Gactha?"
"Yes, Master?" the eldritch servant answered, appearing at his side instantly.
"You mind finding this abandoned city and seeing what the situation looks like?" Issei requested.
"Of course, Master," Gactha accepted, vanishing just as quickly as she appeared.
"So, Yad? How is this going to play out? What do we need to do?" Issei asked with a frown.
"It depends on the state of the seal, Kungur. If it is well enough, we can simply repair it and leave. If not? He may break out no matter what," Yad exclaimed.
"That shouldn't be a problem to deal with. Nycrama can't defeat Yad or me," Kass said before glancing off to where Batz had left. "But the locals here might find themselves joining the dead from the fallout."
And Issei was human enough to be troubled by that. "Let's try to avoid that if nothing else," Issei said with a sigh.
"Master," Gactha said as she appeared again. "I have found it."
"That was fast," Issei said in praise.
"It is very easy to see above the tree lines, Master," Gactha informed.
Issei opened his mouth then closed it in thought. "Ladies? Do you think this would be a bad time for me to learn how to fly? Or float, or whatever I can do to tell gravity to fuck off?"
"Kungur," Yad said with a hint of amusement. "You are the Beloved of Azathoth. You will factually be able to tell gravity to "fuck off" in time."
Meanwhile
Ophis stared at Azathoth.
From across reality and unreality, the Dragon God of Infinity gazed upon the true form of the Daemon Sultana in all her twisted glory.
It would have driven a lesser mind into utter madness and oblivion to do something so foolish, but Ophis was far from lesser.
Still, she doubted that the Eldritch Queen noticed her in any meaningful way. Her presence was barely worthy of noticing to that unknowable divinity.
Ophis wasn't certain of her own relation to the Eldritch family. She was sure there was one, as all Dragons were in fact related to the Eldritch, but her origins were a mystery. Not that she truly cared to learn such things. They were aware of her, but the extraterrestrial divinities had largely left her be, and she had done the same for them.
But something had changed in the Eldritch. They were coming to Earth more, and growing more active across the cosmos. She was intimately aware of that, and why. It was impossible to not know why for one like her.
All because the Queen had made a human into her King.
Issei Hyoudou. That was his name, she had heard from the Khaos Brigade. She didn't know anything about him, but she was pretty sure that she was becoming...aware of him.
The immense form of Azathoth floated through the vastness of space, accompanied by her court of flesh pipers, abhorrent petitioners, and other terrible things. And there was something else with her. Something around her, behind her, among her all at once, and yet none of those things. There was no human word to describe the relative location, for it was a difference not only in space but time. But it was with her all the same, HE was with her all the same.
And Ophis knew "who" she was sensing.
Issei Hyoudou, or what he would become. The Kungur, the King of the Eldritch. Already his presence resonated backward in time and reality, an existence just as great and terrible as Azathoth herself.
And unlike his wife, Ophis knew the King was aware of her. Or he would be, perhaps.
Regardless of the when, she wanted him to be.
She wasn't sure what was a "polite greeting" among any beings. Humans, devils, angels, gods, Eldritch. But she hoped doing the equivalent of "waving" to his true form at a distance might make it easier for her to approach his human form.
After all, reclaiming the Dimensional Gap from Great Red would be easier if she had the aid of the Eldritch and their soveriegns.
She wasn't sure what she could offer any of them, those gods who were all of similar or greater power than herself.
But it couldn't hurt to ask.
After all, she wasn't a mortal.
Meanwhile
"Wow, wow, wow!" Issei exclaimed as he barely grabbed onto a tree branch sturdy enough to break his fall.
It turned out that outright refusing gravity wasn't in his ballpark yet. He could hover using his eldritch powers to "loosen" its hold on him. Which basically made it like he was walking on the moon or something, becoming very light. Light enough that he could jump extremely high into the air and fall slowly.
A bit too slowly. It was taking some work right now on how "loose" he wanted his relationship with gravity to be. Not enough gravity and it felt like it would take him hours to get down. But gravity turned out to have very sensitive buttons, as trying to adjust in the middle of a slow descent often resulted in him dialing it up too much, and sending him to a potential intimate meeting with the ground.
"Hahahahaha! Oh, that was priceless! You looked like something stepped on your tail for the first time!"
Ddraig, while normally pleasant and wise, was not very helpful at this moment. "Look, if you're not going to give me wings, then stay out of this!" Issei snapped in annoyance, scowling at his hand.
He was acutely aware of several cuts and scrapes he had from the fall, all closing and healing in a manner that normal humans would call unnatural even compared to other magical healing abilities.
"I would if I could, sincerely. But doing so would genuinely require you to give up a part of yourself, and I do not believe your wife would take kindly to that arrangement," Ddraig remarked.
"What? Are you telling me I'd have to give up my dick for wings?!" Issei asked in surprise.
"What? No, of course not! Your arm would do! But the point remains, I don't think the Eldritch Queen would tolerate any damage to your person, reasons regardless," Ddraig pointed out.
"You're probably not wrong. I mean, I could probably regrow the arm after we get you a new body, but I'm kind of attached to this arm," Issei said cheekily.
"You don't say?" Ddraig asked drily.
"Yeah, I've had it my whole life!" Issei continued with a chuckle, unable to prevent himself from finishing the joke.
"If you're done jesting about?"
Issei looked up to see the stoic Yad and the amused Kass staring down at him, floating in the air flawlessly. "Is "jesting about" even the way to say it, Yad?" Issei asked in confusion.
"It is in some timelines," Yad answered bluntly, before looking to the side and dragging Issei's attention to the goal.
Not far from here was a stone city with some kind of pyramid-ish-looking building looming high over the trees, a palace or temple probably. "So, that's it, eh?
"Yes, this is definitely the place," Kass said with a thoughtful frown. "Such a shame, this place was rather nice. They gave me a lot of human sacrifices. Most of them were willing too!"
Issei decided to ignore that comment for now. His view on death and human sacrifices was very...uncertain. Knowing there was an afterlife. Afterlives even, from what he understood. Granted, that didn't exactly dampen his desire to keep innocent bystanders from getting mass slaughtered by anything related to the Eldritch. But his gut reaction wasn't disgust or anything overtly negative. Which was probably another sign of his eroding humanity.
Putting that thought away, he began jumping towards the city again, crossing the distance in four long leaps. He dropped from a tree branch, landing on the outskirts of the ruined city.
It wasn't exactly how Issei imagined it, but then this city wasn't really "ancient" in terms of how long it had been abandoned. There was some overgrowth, some vines, and mold working its way out of the stonework. But by and large, it was still mainly intact. The ground was a flat, white stone of some kind, withered by wear and time but still very much intact. The buildings were an orange or red shade that was fading more and more with the years. Some were simple houses, others were large structures of some import. There were countless symbols that Issei had no knowledge of, their written language probably.
"Neat place," Issei mused to himself, wondering what it looked like when it was inhabited. He looked down as Gactha appeared on one knee, Yad and Kass floating down on either side of him. "Gact, did you clear out any zombies?"
"No, Master. There were none within the city," Gactha answered dutifully.
Issei shared a look with Kass and Yad. "I don't suppose either of you did?"
Kass shook her head while Yad answered. "My attack earlier shouldn't have reached this far."
"Yeah, I didn't think so," Issei muttered, wondering just what their foe was up to in this abandoned metropolis.
The divine trio made their way through the city, eerily quiet in its emptiness. They eventually reached the foot of the looming temple, where a great circle was carved into the floor, covered in many symbols that Issei knew were related to the human language he had seen on the wall. The lines glowed with a faint orange light that was easy to miss in the daylight.
"I'm just going to take a wild guess and say this is his cell?" Issei opined expectantly.
"You'd be right," Kass said as she leaned down to touch the seal.
Her scowl was sharp and telling.
"Let me guess, we're too late to repair it?" Issei asked grimly.
"In a manner of speaking," Kass answered vaguely, looking to Yad who had gone to the other side of the seal and also reached down to touch it.
The time goddess found her brow furrowing. "He's gone."
"...Gone?" Issei asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nycrama escaped his seal some time ago," Yad answered with an annoyed tone. "He merely left an overflowing mass of his own ooze behind."
"But if he's out...how are the people still alive? Shouldn't he have destroyed the place, turned everybody into undead so he can make them worship him?" Issei asked in confusion.
"Yes, yes, and yes," Kass answered with a frustrated look. "Someone didn't just free Nycrama, they spirited him away."
"What?!" Ddraig spoke up in alarm, getting many eyes to look at him in Issei's hand. "Umm, apologies, but wouldn't only an Outer God be able to do so, let alone without the rest of you being aware?"
"Ddraig is correct," Yad said with a sigh. "Someone has been trying to obscure our ability to peer through time, hiding incidents like this."
"Yad, there is only a very, very exclusive few that can do that," Kass said with a frown.
"Well, this just got even more complicated," Issei remarked as he leaned down to touch the seal on a lark.
Kass inhaled sharply. "Wait, Issei! Don't-!" she was cut off as a stunned Issei vanished in a glow of putrid orange light. The Eldritch Goddess of Disease looked to Yad in disbelief. "...You let that happen?"
"My sight is obscured, but not blind. The Kungur wishes to confront Nycrama himself," Yad said knowingly as she stood back up. "He does not wish to rely on us for everything. Despite the royal mantle Aza has given to him, he desires to "pull his own weight" as the humans put it."
"Aza will obliterate us if anything happens to him," Kass pointed out factually.
"Have some faith in our Kungur, Kassaogtha," Yad said with certainty. "Besides, he will wish us to deal with the...mess."
Kass looked around and realized what she meant. All around the city, orange ooze began to seep from every crack and crevice of the city. They could hear and sense many things, dead things rising as Nycrama's undeath began to cover the area. "Lovely. Looks like we have some cleaning to do after all."
Elsewhere, Issei launched a dragon shot from his gauntlet, allowing him to burst out from a tangerine pool. He landed on one of many stone platforms dotting the surface of the liquid, surrounded by a black void with dark blue spirals that were almost impossible to see against the darkness. He grimaced in disgust as the orange ooze still clung to his form, finding the smell and feeling unpleasant.
"Hello, Throne-Robber."
Issei paused before turning around to see the speaker. The liquid bulged and rose up to form a worm-like being, several several eyes around the head and a gabbing maw. Around it were numerous, uncountable tentacles that swayed about threateningly.
Issei calmly looked the being over. "You must be Nycrama. I thought you left already?"
The maw twisted into what might be a grin or a snarl, Issei wasn't sure. "Merely a lesser avatar made of my own essence. I could not deny the chance for us to...meet."
Issei raised an eyebrow. "Meaning you knew I'd be here," he commented, getting no response. "Listen, I get you're miffed that you weren't the one Aza loved. But I'm going to be nice and give you a chance."
"A chance?!" Nycrama growled out in disbelief.
"Yeah. You cut off from whoever or whatever freed you, agree not to try turning Earth into your undead cult, and I'll negotiate with Aza and the others about the terms of your release," Issei offered calmly.
Nycrama starred for a long moment. "I don't know if I find your offer insulting or baffling. What kind of King barters with his subjects!?"
"A king that isn't full of shit," Issei answered honestly. "Is that a no?"
The beastly form rose higher and higher. "Of course I refuse! I refuse your offer and I refuse to accept that a whelp like you is supposed to be worthy of that throne, of being the Sultan of the Sultana! I deny you and I will erase you! Then when I have laid you low, she will see that it was "I" who was meant to rule the cosmos at her side! And I will claim her above your rotting corpse and-"
The avatar got no further, as a dragon shot tore through his form's head.
"The only one who gets to talk about doing naughty stuff to Aza's body is me!" Issei said pointedly, his eyes darkening menacingly at this worm that dared to speak such things of his Aza.
Nycrama growled and gurgled as his avatar reformed. "Very well, False King! Come and meet your demise!" he declared before lurching forth, like a mighty serpent and a grave wave in one.
Meanwhile
Aza blinked before giggling to herself as she lay on the bed. "I think Issei just got possessive of me," she said, looking over her shoulder as she felt Issei's presence across space and time. She purred as if already in his embrace. "Hmm, hurry back, Beloved. I grow impatient for your touch..."
End of Chapter
And now Isei gets to fight off Nycrama's avatar, while the others are on pest control. Ahh, and Ophis might be entriering the picutre in the near future. Not a lot else. Hope you're all still enjoying this.
Early viewing of chapters 37-38:
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