DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything, as per usual.
...
Once, long ago, there was nothing. And then, there was suddenly something, from an event commonly called the Big Bang, which created everything, and is still going on to this day, from the most minuscule atomic string, to the grandest and largest multiverses.
It is commonly agreed that this event was perhaps the biggest accident to be ever made. Most people complain about accidentally impregnating or getting pregnant far too early, or suffering from social anxiety, or being caught and raped by god-knows-what that freak called a Monster Girl is, or being the target of either the wrath or worryingly yandere affections of a Goddess (it is still being debated to this day which one is worse). Perhaps they should blame the event that made this all possible in the first place. Or maybe it's just them not doing well. One of the two. Or maybe another choice.
... Proceeding on from that event, there wasn't a whole lot of well... anything. At this point, it was mostly cosmic "soup" or "sludge" or "sewage" or whatever one wants to call the primordial mists of creation. Generally speaking, there were about Six Elements: Light, Darkness, Air, Earth, Water, and Heat. In time, Light came to be referred to as "Holy" in some cases, Air became known as "Wind," and Heat became known as "Fire." Why the planet we all live on is called Earth when most of it is water, nobody knows. Oh, there was also an element known as "Chaos" as well, commonly occurring when the explosive relationship between Light and Darkness somehow did not occur and instead Light and Darkness fused. It came to be a rather massive headache multiversally speaking, with beings known as "Apoptosis" trying to regulate and stop it from destroying everything.
It's a rather wildly debated topic, one that's, unthankfully, quite irrelevant to the creation of the personifications of the various elements. First, from the Light, spawned a being that came to be known as "Ilias." She was quite the loner, almost depressingly so.
From the Darkness, came a whor-, Elemental, known as "Alipheese." Well, "Alipheese the First," or "Primal Alipheese," to be exact. She didn't do much at first.
From the Air, came a being known as "Sylph." She was, unsurprisingly for a runty child of the wind, a massive airhead.
From the Earth, came a mute known as "Gnome." She didn't like to talk. Sometimes it's wondered if she even has a mouth under her clothes, which is a stupid debate, because technically these beings don't even have corporeal forms at this point as no such thing exists, and later on they all show that they have mouths. Of course, people still theorize and make stupid arguments over it, which leads to fighting. Maybe this is why she's silent so much. Because she's expressing massive disappointment in the stupidity of sentient beings.
From the Water, came a slimelike being called "Undine." Unlike her kin, she was perfectly cool with consuming people if they failed a simple test... Or made stupid puns like what was made just now... (Shit, I should probably talk faster while I can...)
From the Heat, came a hothead referred to as "Salamander." She was generally the most popular of the group, as Alipheese had a... different, reputation, Ilias was being depressed in loneliness, and the others were generally either completely, earsplittingly annoying, or awkwardly silent, or being quite unpleasant to be around.
Out of these Six, Ilias and Alipheese were easily the strongest, being capable of directly influencing the evolution and growth of other lifeforms, thus leading to those two becoming known as Goddesses, while the other were simply just very powerful and skilled with their own element, eventually making Sylph and the others known as the "Four Spirits."
In time, the primordial waste began to congeal and coalesce, the Earth and Water forming the lands and seas of various planets, the Heat and Light becoming Suns and Stars, and the Air becoming atmospheres. The Darkness didn't do much other than be the stand-in for when Light was absent in situations.
Ilias would come to eventually lust for company and attention so much, that she would quite literally rip two parts of her own being apart, shaping and forming them into her first two children: Micaela and Lucifina.
However, she quickly realized that maybe ripping herself was a rather shitty idea that only resulted in beings that quite resembled her. Thus, she instead used the Solar Energy and Light from the Sun to form her Third Child: Eden.
Others would follow suit after Eden's formation was a success, but they're not important, so they won't be mentioned. Instead, the most revelant of Ilias' children, Micaela, Lucifina, and Eden, were now among the strongest and usually smartest of Ilias' new creations, which Ilias called "Angels."
Micaela was generally smart, inheriting Ilias' wits and strategy.
Lucifina was a fighter, who gained Ilias' strength and skills.
Eden... Uh... Eden got...
Well... I mean... She must've received...
She... inherited... um...
Eden inherited Ilias' skills in bed? She inherited Ilias' naivety? Or maybe she just gained the right to call herself Ilias' thirdborn child. It had to have been something. Certainly not wits or power like her sisters.
... Moving on, it was noted that Eden was generally bullied quite a bit by her sisters. From being used as a way to build a snowman by piling the snow onto her, teasing and mocking her as being much mentally slower and physically weaker than her sisters, to making her head bleed with a laurel/crown of thorny branches and leaves, the list went on and on. It was safe to say Eden didn't like her sisters that much, but still felt some trust and love for them in the end. Until later on, but that's another story.
Together, with her bumbling cosmic sock-puppets and sycophants-in-the-making, Ilias descended on a primitive planet with some equally primitive life on it. She would attempt to elevate certain beings into sentient beings like herself, and wound up making what came to be known as Proto-Humans on a large continent between two smaller ones. They were rather abominable in nature, varying wildly and often dying from either insanity getting them into self-destructive situations, emotional instability making them fight each other frequently, being infertile, and just being a massive clusterfuck in general. Nevermind the fact they could kick the monsters' asses, they were too busy killing themselves or not having babies to live long enough to savor it, assuming their insanity didn't ruin that as well.
Ilias, like any other sane person would, backtracked quite a lot and suppressed these genetically strong, but stupid, Proto-Humans, practically wiping them all out save for some who wound up in the royal bloodlines of future kings and queens somehow. Historians are still confused on this vague part of history, to say the least.
Regardless, Ilias came to go with a weak-as-shit, but stable, race of beings she came to call humans. She also happened to take on a corporeal form at this point along with Alipheese and the other Elementals, appearing as a beautiful angel. She soon organized and gave intelligence to humanity, enough to make them praise and worship her, and her ego spiraled out of control quite soon after that, leaving humanity to mostly just live in caves and be animals to an extent. This would not last long soon though, for an scientist-wannabe angel known as Promestein attempted to help humans get better at living by granting them the knowledge of fire, but that caused Ilias to freak out and toss Promestein into a cell for however long her temper felt like making the poor scientist wait. Needless to say, Promestein wasn't the same when she got out, nor was she as nice to humans either, but that will come into play much later on.
So, what was Alipheese doing while Ilias was off playing "Follow your Goddess or be Smited~!" with the humans? Mostly doing... strange, things to the local life she found. Like a seaweed. Good god she did some nasty shit. Things that most historians skim over and skip, which, for the sake of sanity itself, I shall do much the same and skip what she actually did to mutate and modify the local life. (Fucking nasty-ass slut...)
For the most part, she kept her early experiments to another continent, far away from Ilias' side of the planet. Alipheese's early creations either resulted in just long-lived or immortal organisms such as the seaweed she modified, or, she was successful, and managed to create three, rather ugly and degenerate creatures. Though this information came in later on in history, it was theorized that Alipheese tried to enhance the various traits she saw in creatures, and wound up creating what would be called the "Proto-Monsters," similar to how Ilias made the "Proto-Humans."
These creatures' evolutionary ability was the one that was emphasized the most in Alipheese's early attempts to modifying life, and as such, they varied wildly, from being simple goblinlike creatures to massive, mountain-sized trolls and giants. However, due to Alipheese not understanding exactly how sentience worked, these Proto-Monsters suffered from a severe case of being rather bestial and dumb. Some were smart, but they generally were either bashed to death, or were trying to assert themselves as the Alpha of their pack of monsters.
Alipheese didn't really care for continuing on with this line of thought, and as such, just headed on over to Ilias' side of the world, and seeing the progress Ilias made with the humans.
Now, Alipheese finally had an idea of what Ilias was doing right, and emulated it, mutating and twisting various animals and even plants into new monsters that, rather than look like horrid little gremlins, looked more like humans with some... well, a lot, of bestial or plantlike traits. She generally called this successful batch of monsters "Mamono." To put it bluntly, the original monsters looked and acted like ugly degenerate beasts. These Mamono looked, and sometimes, acted like civilized beings. There were obviously many exceptions to Mamono being civilized, but Alipheese focused more on what she did right instead of her many, many fuckups, such as not making male mamono for whatever reason. Historians to this day still debate on how intelligent Alipheese Prime actually was at this point, or if she was just a magic moron who bumbled her way into doing something right.
At this point, Alipheese had soon finalized her concepts for the first "Mamono," and created Six Ancestors:
Saja, the clingy Bird-Snake-Dragon thing who likely either became the Second Monster Lord or her child did. Assuming if Saja ever did have a child that is. She's known to be the progenitor of the Lamia, Harpy, and Dragon lines.
Kanon, the Penis Fly Trap... I mean, the Plant Ancestor, who enjoyed dissolving humans. She was known to have planted the seeds for the Plant-type Monsters to grow and rise.
Kanade, the Slimeball who was likely far more calm and at ease than her modern-day counterparts who were going batshit about pollution. She essentially split small parts of herself into the Colony-type Monsters, such as Slimes and Amoebas.
Hiruko, the only Ancestor that appears to have had a chest resembling more of a washing board than actual beach balls like her sisters. She was likely the Eden of the group, considering her strange appearance, many appendages and organs, flat chest, among other aspects. She spilled the Scylla and other aquatic monsters into the seas.
Tamamo-no-Mae, the only Ancestor who managed to stay relevant for the entirety of history without being killed or sealed. She generally made the animalistic races, such as the Kitsunes, Centuars, and others.
... (Must I really talk about this one?... Yes? Ugh, fine...)
Minagi, the Tho-, Ancestor, who so much of a damn slut that one could tell she was the whore of the Ancestors... All of whom were whores in their own right. She had access to the dreamscape, oddly enough, and she was responsible for creating the Succubi race, though it is said that she's likely responsible for creating the Vampires (somehow), the Elves (closet-perverts), among other humanoid monsters who carried a higher resemblance to humans than other monster-types did. Thank Ilias this one was sealed.
So, as far as Alipheese was concerned, these Six were relatively new, nice, and good attempts at sentient beings, so she decided to let them out into the world, do as they pleased.
Probably one of the bigger fuckups on her part, for Ilias quickly noticed the Ancestors running around draining and otherwise destroying entire cities of humans.
Ilias was not happy with this, to say the least, nor did she like the fact that even more mamono were popping up, doing as they pleased and killing or enslaving a huge amount of the human population. The fact that Alipheese seemed to be a better creator, and was starting to be considered a better god even by humans did not help soothe Ilias' temper.
As such, Ilias declared war. Alipheese soon declared war in turn, and soon, the Great Monster Wars would begin...
The Great War lasted for many decades, with the overwhelming numbers and power of the monsters being nullified by the higher competence of Micaela and the fear of the Daystar, Lucifina. At some points, Eden and Hiruko would clash, causing catastrophic damage to the lands in their true, hideous forms.
Though a majority of the monster forces were primarily Beelzebubs, Alipheese had at some point decided to side with the Pabilsags in a civil war between them and the Beelzebubs. Sealing the Beelzebub race into the calamity box, and sinking their island, Alipheese had accidentally screwed over a rather large portion of her forces, thus leading historians to have further evidence of her increasingly obvious stupidity and inability to foresee what might happen in the future. After the Great Monster Wars, the Pabilsags would move on to eventually generate the Insect-type monsters, with the Arachnes somehow being lopped into the classification as well despite insects and arachnids being two different types of arthropods.
It was noted at this time, a powerful bloodline of monsters known as the "Nereneids" would fight in the wars, but were narrowed down to a single family line after it all ended. Due to their close ties with Alipheese, it was assumed they'd take on the throne of Monster Lord when she and the Ancestors were gone, but for some reason, Alipheese chose to have the "Fateburn" family line become the Monster Lords instead. Whether it was because she forgot about the Nereneids, believed them to all be dead, or just simply wanted someone else to be ruler, the result was the same: The Fateburns and Nereneids would be bitter rivals for a long time to come...
Meanwhile, in Ilias' side of things, the military and religious center for humans known as San Ilia was rapidly ramping up its forces and shelters in an attempt to save humans from both Angel and Monsters alike, and had by chance sent a large military force overseas, in an attempt to find a new continent to colonize and persevere in case Alipheese won over Ilias. They were forgotten, save for a few records, but they didn't die out, and they did find another continent...
Time passed, and despite Alipheese's massive lack of military competency or control over her creations, she and the Ancestors were slowly driving Ilias and the Angels back, threatening to destroy them once and for all.
Instead of surrendering or thinking up a better strategy, Ilias instead rage-quitted and used the explosive reactions Light and Darkness usually had when thrown at each other to cause an M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) situation, being perfectly fine with the idea of obliterating everything instead of letting Alipheese take it all.
Alipheese, not really having anything to counter or stop Ilias from collectively screwing the entire planet over, had decided to simply surrender instead of attempting to negotiate a treaty or armistice. Though, this time, Historians can agree that at this point, trying to reason with Ilias was like trying to talk a bomb into not going off.
Ilias presumably asked Alipheese to kill herself, but that probably didn't work, so she asked instead for Alipheese and the Ancestors to seal themselves away. Permanently.
Alipheese, desperate to not get everyone killed by a certain psychotic goddess, decided to go through with the sealing, though she did place in a counter-balance that would set her and the Ancestors free if Ilias killed too many monsters. It was probably a terrible idea on Alipheese's part to somehow tell Ilias about this, because Ilias inevitably spent the next thousand years or so brainwashing humanity to hate monsters and worship her, screw over the Monster Lords, and find ways to get around Alipheese's counter-balance. It was also noted that Tamamo-no-Mae had also avoided being completely sealed, and was mostly monitoring the Monster Lords that succeeded the first from behind the scenes.
Not much really happened for the next 500 years or so, until a certain Monster Lord known as Alipheese Fateburn the Eighth, or better as "Black Alice," attempted to take over the world. A Legendary Hero named Heinrich came to arise, and with the help of the Four Spirits, defeated her, though perhaps she wasn't quite as dead as history tells it to be...
About 470-480 years passed after that...
Over on the other side of the planet, the military force once sent by San Ilia to colonize a new continent had changed drastically. They had encountered the proto-monsters created by Alipheese, and seeing them as horrific insults to even the mamono, attempted to purge them. The wars between these humans and proto-monsters stretched on for many years, and a strong lack of Ilias, the emphasis on battle and warring, and constant strife changed this colony.
Over the centuries of having no contact with their Goddess, the people began to forget about her and turned to idolatry instead...
It started with Ilias worship, obviously. The first colonists praised and fought in her name daily, praying for her guidance.
Time went on, and soon, great war heroes came to rise and achieve magnificent deeds in battle, leading to the people believing they were blessed and guided by Ilias herself.
It kept on going, until various towns and centers of Ilias worship fell into ruin because of either civil wars, monster attacks, or plagues and disease. After these events, Ilias' influence began to falter and fade, due to Ilias herself not being aware of these people and ready to remind them constantly of her existence. With that, heroes once believed to merely be the heralds and champions of the Goddess were beginning to be praised and worshiped as actual gods themselves, that with their honorable and valorous achievements in battle, they ascended to godhood.
Of course, they were hardly divine, just simply being normal humans with an unbelievable amount of physical might and power. They could be killed just like any other man, but it would certainly be difficult to pull off. It was ill-advised to bring this up directly in their faces or near their fanatics and idolizers though.
Because of how war heroes were apotheosised into idols and gods, their military roots, and of course their fanatical devotion to purging their new continent of all monsters, this colony came to glorify and love war and conquest, believing that it was what all life strived for. After all, when their lives, their father and mother's lives, their grandparents' lives, all the way up to their founders' lives have been nothing but constant fighting, attempts to survive the impossible, and achieving glory and fame through doing such things, it was only natural they'd come to be centered around survival of the fittest and war.
It took almost 970 years, but, at last, this colony had expanded and conquered so much of the continent to the point where only a small sliver of the land was unclaimed and populated by the most powerful of proto-monsters. By this point, the colony was no longer a colony of San Ilia, or anything even vaguely resembling the original soldiers who worshiped Ilias. They had come to be known as the Legion, and were no doubt heretics and barbarians in the eyes of Ilias or her priests. In time, their greatest warrior would go down into the depths of this monster land, and challenge their strongest beasts... And when he would come back, he would focus the Legion's gaze to other lands, to continue on the war, to ensure the glories of battle never faded or died.
Though, for now, the Legion would remain to their sole continent for now. Right now, the Mamono and Humans of the three continents on the other side of the planet had their own problems... The most notable of which was the election for the fifteenth Monster Lord...
The Fateburns had kept the crown of Monster Lord for the longest time, and despite having Black Alice die with no heirs, they still continued on with the Eighth's sister, Alice the Ninth. Quite understandably, not many monsters desired to fight the Fateburns at this point, thinking it to be a futile attempt at the crown.
Except for one. A descendant of the Nereneid bloodline, Cassandra. Determined to claim the crown at long last, Cassandra was the only monster to actually dare challenge Alice XV for the crown when the time came...
...
A young woman with pale skin and light blue eyes looked around, the blood-red flesh covering most of her body like a dress of sorts bubbling with excitement. She notably had absurdly long blonde hair with heavy tints of green, tied into a massive ponytail to her right. Though she was sure that her opponent would not be an easy one, this was her bloodline's time, it was her time, her time to be the Monster Lord at long last.
This was Cassandra Nereneid, a powerful monster and the sole contestant who dared to challenge Alice XV for the throne. She wasn't sure what she'd exactly do as Monster Lord, but that would come later. She was sure there was plenty of information that would be revealed and shown to the new Monster Lord, and if not, then she'd just deal with the violent human nations in Sentora or find a way to lessen Ilias' influence. It'd be something she'd figure out after becoming Monster Lord.
In time, she saw her rival, Alice the Fifteenth. She was slightly older than Cassandra, but was far bigger, being a purple-skinned lamia with a massive red-scaled tail. There were a few small wings coming out at a few places, and she wore rather... skimpy, clothing. Fancy and elegant, but skimpy and revealing nonetheless.
Heh... I can injure her much more easily if she's just going to show it all off, Cassandra smugly thought to herself, knowing her flesh would help take and soften Alice's spells and attacks.
Both contestants made eye-contact soon, both unable to read the other's expression... Alice soon broke off, noting that Tamamo had something to say to her.
Cassandra just smiled to herself, giddy and ready to fight. She had trained so long for this fight... She knew she could take Alice down.
Eventually her scylla maid, Ran, leaned in and whispered to her, "Careful, Lady Cassandra. Just as you would fight underhandedly, I am certain Alice XV would do much the same. The Fateburns won't give up their crown and title so easily..."
"Of course Ran, of course. I can take whatever Alice throws at me and do it even better," Cassandra said, almost thinking about counting the seconds that passed until the fight finally started.
"I know Milady. It is simply my duty to ensure that you win and survive no matter what..." Ran politely said, "Perhaps some tea will ease your nerves and tension?"
"No. I need this adrenaline for the match... I can't be feeling or going easy now of all times," Cassandra responded, "I will win the crown! I won't let her triumph..."
The Maid simply nodded and backed away, letting her mistress meditate and think deeply before the duel began.
Time passed, and inevitably, the tournament began, the two contestants walking into the arena and staring each other down.
At a stand above the arena, Tamamo stood with several other monster nobles, "Today is the day the Fifteenth Monster Lord is crowned... Only two would stand to take the throne. The defender and rightful inheritor to the Crown, Alipheese Fateburn the Fifteenth, and Cassandra Nereneid, Lord of Lady's Village. You two will fight here today, and the winner shall take the crown. Do you two agree to this?"
"I do," Alice simply said with no emotion.
"Of course!" Cassandra said eagerly, ready to begin.
"I see... Then let the duel for the throne begin!" Tamamo commanded, officially beginning the match.
Both fighters immediately rushed each other, locking into a struggle. Cassandra seemed rather confident and self-assured, while Alice simply kept on her blank look.
Neither side got over the other in that struggle, but Cassandra's flesh began to crawl over her arms, quickly wrapping around Alice's arms and constricting them, oozing with corrosive and acidic substances.
Alice jerked back, trying to rip and tear the flesh off to prevent her arms from being crippled this early on, while Cassandra giggled, the bottom of her dress expanding and flooding the floor of the sandy arena with her toxic and deadly flesh. Alarmed, Alice's tail wings began to flap, and with the help of some magic, Alice took to the airs, staying well away from the walls and floors.
Cassandra simply raised her pointer finger at Alice, some of her flesh suddenly tearing off and being telekinetically hurled into the air at Alice to weigh her down and melt her wings. Alice flew around, weaving and dodging gracefully despite her large size and long tail, silently concentrating her magic and power into her fist...
The Amoeba remained none the wiser to this however, simply laughing at the Lamia as she hummed her own little symphony, treating this as more of a concert rather than an actual duel.
"Lady Cassandra... take Alice down while you can..." Ran muttered worriedly from the sidelines, concerned that Cassandra was perhaps being far more arrogant than she should be right now while Tamamo looked on proudly at Alice's performance so far.
Cassandra didn't appear to hear Ran's quiet attempts to advise her, as she carried on fighting playfully, "Come on, Alipheese! Show me the so-called power of the Fateburns! Show me why your line deserves to be Monster Lord instead of mine!" she cackled, beginning to throw magic spells at Alice, from fireballs, to icicle shards, to lightning bolts.
Alice didn't bother answering, continuing on with her graceful movements and swerving in the skies to avoid the acids shot out at her, and to avoid the flesh being thrown at her and the spells. Needless to say, this irritated Cassandra quite a bit, and led to her using more magical power to make her attacks home in on Alice.
Soon, several spells did manage to hit their mark, throwing Alice off-balance and causing her to be forced into the flesh-covered ground by Cassandra's other projectiles.
Instantly, Alice was covered with Cassandra's flesh, the bulge convulsing and thrashing around wildly. Cassandra grunted and frowned, using all of her will to try and keep Alice trapped in her flesh, hoping that she'd fall, whether it be due to suffocating, being burnt and digested too much to fight, or having her energy drained from breaking free, she didn't really care.
Ran gleamed and cheered Cassandra on, while it was Tamamo's turn to be concerned and worried about Alice's victory chances.
Time kept on going, and gradually the thrashing got weaker and slower, until finally, it appeared to be over.
Cassandra giggled, and then burst out laughing with Ran cheering and praising her, "Ha! You see that!? That's what you get, Fateburn! All of these centuries of the Nereneids being shoved aside... It ends now! I will be Monster Lord at long last!"
Tamamo sighed, feeling a massive amount of pressure and guilt now at not properly training Alice XV as she should have, when she noted that Alice XV still appeared to be quite conscious and active inside Cassandra's flesh... In fact, since Cassandra was assured of her victory now, the flesh had loosened up and relaxed...
So, it wasn't as shocking to Tamamo as it was to Cassandra and Ran when Alice XV ruptured and tore out of Cassandra's flesh, making a beeline right at the Amoeba with a worryingly powerful amount of energy stored and focused in her fist.
Panicked, shocked, and unprepared all at once, Cassandra vainly tried to raise her guard, but Alice went right around it, and cleanly punched Cassandra in the face, all of the lamia's might and power focused into that single strike.
Immediately the Nereneid was torn from her center of flesh and sent flying into the wall as, crashing through it as the disembodied flesh covering the floors and walls wilted and died, rendering them harmless, if still a bit slimy and squishy.
Alice, despite being badly wounded and even partially melted in some parts of her body, kept on going, slithering quickly to Cassandra's location and yanking the amoeba up by her long hair, and throwing her again.
Cassandra shrieked, not only because she was sent flying into the air again after being badly wounded by the darkness-enhanced punch Alice hit her with, but because Alice didn't let go of her pony-tail, leading to her hair being drastically shortened... It was more on the lines of her hair now being around neck-length, rather than knee-length.
"Y-you bitch! I'll make you go through every single agonizing and humiliating way of torture!" Cassandra shouted, blinded by pure anger at this point and blindly casting her strongest spells at Alice.
Due to Cassandra's tantrum however, Alice found it quite easy to slither inbetween and around the spells' impact locations and ultimately, Alice wrapped around Cassandra's body despite its slippery and slimy flesh, tightly constricting her.
All Alice had to do was simply grab on top of Cassandra's head with one hand, and hold the bottom of her chin with the other to instantly silence her.
"... It's over, Nereneid. I win via neck snap. Even you can't survive an injury like that," Alice coldly said, speaking for once since the start of the duel.
"N-No... no..." Cassandra trailed off, almost tearing up as the spectators cheered and the winner of the match was finally declared by Tamamo:
"Alipheese Fateburn the Fifteenth wins! Cassandra Nereneid loses! The New Monster Lord has been selected!"
Sighing, Alipheese loosened up around Cassandra, "I'm going now. I have things to attend to that my mother left on my hands," with that said, Alipheese turned her back on Cassandra, and slithered off to recover and attend to her new duties and enjoy her new powers and control as the Monster Lord, Tamamo running off after her to inform her of her duties and certain other topics and secrets.
Ran soon walked up behind Cassandra, "I-I'm sorry, Milady..."
Cassandra simply sniffled and teared up, before running away, crying about failing when she had victory right within her grasp, about how the Fateburns won once again, and about her wounds and training were all for nothing.
Ran sighed, walking off after her mistress. Perhaps some tea and a warm meal around a fireplace in Lady's Village would help her...
...
The Insect Queen, Charlotte, calmly resided in her cave, idly pondering on what to do. Should she focus on human domestication, or should she continue on with her focus on the various insect kingdoms? So many questions to answer...
She was an arachne, one who happened to be descended from a youkai line in Yamatai. She wore a black and silky white kimono, with a white bow tied onto her corset with a golden flower. On her large abdomen, she had ornate clothes showing golden-yellow clouds and intricate spider webs. Unlike most of her kind, she also wrapped large white clothes with yellow and black pattern onto her eight legs as well, tying them together with red strings. Her long purple hair was tied up into a flowing ponytail, with some golden jewelry that kept it together.
"Such a pity... Everything seems to be so boring nowadays. I do wonder who will become the new Monster Lord though," she quietly mused, drawing her katana and gazing into it. Maybe she'd be harsher on the insect kingdoms today... But how? Raise Taxes? Too petty, and she didn't have much taste for wealth either. Executions? She liked her subjects to be around, and if she wanted to kill someone, she'd just do it herself. Or maybe she'd instate a new law... No, that wasn't good, plus the new Monster Lord might get onto her for any stupid or irrational decisions.
"Hmph. I suppose I'll either continue on attempting to domesticate humans as cattle if Cassandra wins, or if she loses and Alice wins, I'll just remain quiet and only enslave the ones I keep for myself... Or maybe not. I'll find out when that time comes," she said, sheathing it as a knock echoed nearby her part of the cave, "Come in."
Soon entered the Queen Ant, Antine-Ann, the Spider Queen, and the Queen Bee, Miria.
The Queen Ant's torso and head were a light-brown in color, while her four arms, legs, abdomen, and mandibles were a silvery-black. She wore no clothes, though on her platinum hair, she did don a bronze crown. Her emerald eyes instantly told the Insect Queen that they were here for reasons that most certainly did not benefit her.
The Spider Queen was generally soft-spoken and quiet in these past few years. Charlotte had plenty of reason to think she'd die within the next decade or so. She was an albino tarantula, with white fuzzy hairs and soft red eyes. She dressed in elegant, refined clothing with blue and red accents, and she didn't wear much jewelry. The Insect Queen was on rather good terms with her, so she could safely assume the news wasn't going to involve a violent outbreak or coup.
The Queen Bee also wore no clothing at all, her torso and head were a light tan, and her four arms, legs, and mandibles were a grayish-black. There were occasional places where white fuzz was in, primarily on her hips, shoulders, wrists, and ankles. She had two pairs of light-green wings, and her abdomen was striped with yellow and black colors. Much like Antine-Ann, Miria had an orange-gold crown on her light-yellow hair. Her jade eyes automatically told the Insect Queen that this news involved her on a massive scale if it included someone as unimportant as her.
"Antine-Ann, Rosa, Miria. I assume you three are here for a reason?" Charlotte asked, turning to face them.
"It's simple, Charlotte. On orders of the Monster Lord, Alipheese Fateburn XV, you are no longer Insect Queen," Antine-Ann said triumphantly, "Due to your cruelty, harsh treatment, and the way you've killed humans, the Monster Lord has, with me and Queen Bee's urging, stripped you of your titles and political power."
"... What? Are you joking?" Charlotte deadpanned, not taking it seriously.
"I'm afraid it is, Charlotte..." the Spider Queen murmured softly, taking out an official order with Alice's emblem of approval.
"No... This has to be a joke!" Charlotte shouted, taking up the parchment swiftly and skimming over it, paling as she saw the truth of the matter.
"No more of your harsh reign, former Insect Queen," Miria declared, her tone practically denouncing the former queen.
"And, before you lose your temper... Think, for a moment. You're outnumbered, your political authority is gone, and you'd be defying the new Monster Lord by refusing to stand down and attacking us. Try to consider what might happen if you draw that katana of yours," Antine-Ann warned, staring the arachne down.
"Damn you... Damn you three to hell!" Charlotte shouted, "I will become the Insect Queen again! Don't think you can just silence and banish me!" In a furious anger, the former queen shoved past the three Queens and out of her former domain, to where, none of them knew.
"... Finally, now I can concern myself with Grangold's attempts at expansion and wars..." Antine-Ann sighed, surprised and shocked her threat got through to Charlotte.
"Indeed... Tensions are rising between my bees and hornets, and the plants of Queen Alraune in Plansect Village. Charlotte's reign was not helping us in that regard," Miria said, idly stretching her wings and limbs.
"And I... I can't take this stress anymore... I'm in my twilight years, I know I'll die soon, but I've finally reeled in the violence of the Arachne Clan, and yet I can't keep up with younger ones like Charlotte riling them all up again. I wish I could help her, but there's only so much I can do..." Rosa quietly said.
"We gave her a chance, and she didn't take it. What she does now no longer concerns us, not when she's been weakened so much... So let's focus on our own problems. Farewell, Rosa, Miria," Antine-Ann said, going off to take her leave to her cave systems.
"Safe travels, you two!" Rosa said, waving to them as she soon teleported away.
"Goodbye! I am certain all will be well soon, for all of us!" Miria smiled, flying away off to Plansect Village.
...
Meanwhile, far off in the continent where the Legion was warring against the Monsters...
By this point, the centuries long war between the Human Legions and Monsters were drawing to a close. The monsters had been all either purged or driven into hiding in a tiny sliver of land on the continent, and soon, it was inevitable that the legions would come in for a final, glorious battle.
One particular warrior, Octavius, had his own goals however... equipping his strongest armor and taking his mace and sword, the Legionnaire went out on his own, adventuring deep into the territory of the monsters...
He easily fought his way past most of the monsters. Whether they were small gremlins, brutish orcs, or gigantic, shapeshifting trolls, they all fell the same to his might. He walked on, unmatched by the colossal golems, the hordes of brutish and savage orcs and goblins, the mighty and ancient dragons, and the many other abominations and magical freaks that infested the caves. The halls and corridors of the cave were soaked in blood and entrails, Octavius' footsteps echoing throughout the silent hellhole...
He went deeper and deeper, noticing it only got darker and narrower, forcing him to crawl through narrow and small cracks and holes at certain points. It got eerily silent. Any ordinary man or woman would turn around and flee back to the safety of their camps by this point...
But, there is no honor or valor in running away, and thus, Octavius moved on, digging himself out of the narrow and claustrophobic cracks and crevices into a grand open space... Light was shining down from a gaping hole in the ceiling, bathing the place in warmth, and allowing the natural crystals to shine and glisten in all their beauty as vines and trees grew all around. Towards one particular edge of the space were three thrones, carved crudely out of marble.
There, upon those three thrones, sat three immense and intimidating beasts.
The Monster on the left was a strange creature, with his forearms being extremely massive and his torso being flabby and covered in mold and fungi. His neck was so thick and short that it almost appeared that his head was connected directly to his torso, and his legs were stubby and short. He wore a simple loincloth, which appeared to be made from the skins of animals, humans, and other monsters. He wielded a thick dragon bone, sharpened at the ends with crude clothes wrapped around one end as a grip of sorts. His mouth was abnormally wide, and his snout was long and hooked. He gazed with his moon-like eyes at Octavius hungrily, frothing at the mouth for another meal. Octavius recognized this monster to be Grendal, one of the strongest and long-lived monsters... which meaned that the ones beside him must've been his brothers...
The Demon on the right was a barbaric creature that strongly resembled a gorilla... Its arms were scarred and bulging, as were its legs, and unlike Grendal, this giant's torso was thick with muscles instead of fat and lard. It covered itself with furs and bones like a coat of sorts, with the teeth, skulls, and other parts dangling down from its necklace. On its head it wore the skull of a dragon, grinning stupidly inside the dragon's jaws with its uneven, blunt fangs. It carried a tree trunk, with a sharpened piece of a strange metal at the end. Octavius knew this to be Jotun, a powerful giant who had once devastated the land and legion to the north. So this was where the mythical being lurked...
The final Devil in the middle was an imposing titan. He too, was muscular like his brother Jotun, but he wore no furs or bones, just a long cloth wrapped around his waist. He looked quite human truthfully, but his skin was greyish-blue, and it appeared that a small veil of ice covered his body. His bushy beard was like a gigantic tree, curling and growing down to his knees, wrapping around and covering his shoulders and chest at times. Two mighty horns twisted from his forehead, red at the tips and reeking of decay and frost. He wielded a mighty hammer, made of eternal, unmelting ice, the hilt shining like silver, engraving and carvings of mighty battles and warriors decorating it. Octavius only had to take a small glimpse to know it as Ymir, the strongest monster.
Ymir scoffed slightly at the presence of the Legionnaire, rising from his throne, "Come, brothers. The fool has challenged all of us..."
Jotun and Grendal sneered and rised out of their thrones as well, drawing their weapons...
Octavius steeled himself, drawing his mace and sword, and charging at the three giants, bashing his mace at Grendal first, only to find out the giant's fat and loose flesh took in the blows without it even feeling that it happened.
Grendal shouted in a childish outrage, blocking Octavius' blows with his dragon bone, before grabbing and smashing the human into the ground. Jotun and Ymir soon joined in, attempting to crush and stomp on the human, but couldn't tell where he was at due to the dust clouds that puffed up when he was bashed into the earth.
They soon found out where he was at though, for Grendal soon felt a piercing blade stab through his sides. Shrieking out in pain, Grendal jumped and twirled about awkwardly, trying to throw the human stabbing him off while Jotun and Ymir waited for a chance to safely strike the pest without harming their brother.
In time, Octavius grabbed onto a different part of Grendal, and jerked his sword out, attempting to scale and climb the giant while it tossed and threw itself against the floors and walls, sometimes crushing Octavius, but due to a mix of luck, armor, and Grendal just not realizing to try and suffocate or grind Octavius into a bloody pile of gore, Octavius survived most of it. He did not like being smothered between a hard surface and the fat giant however, and it only served to enrage him further, fueling him to move faster and swing his blade wildly at Grendal's back, hacking and slashing parts of its flesh off.
Jotun snarled, furious and rushing at Grendal to try and take care of Octavius itself by impaling the human on its spear, but in part to Octavius seeing this and grabbing onto Grendal's ears to steer the giant off, and Grendal's own panicking, Jotun wound up impaling Grendal cleanly through the gut.
Grendal, despite its wounds, was still quite active and angry, roughly smacking Jotun across the face and throwing his brother into the wall for his troubles before he continued attempting to catch Octavius who still continued to elude and evade his grasp.
Octavius dropped down onto the floor after sometime, having thought up a plan to fully bring Jotun's spear right through Grendal and cripple the giant, and circled around behind Grendal to cut at the back of his knees, which admittedly were hard to find when the giant's legs were already so stumpy. But, when he finally did cut the right spot after many tries and dodges, Grendal fell right onto his gut, which consequently caused the spear to erupt from his back in a bloody fountain.
Growling and frothing at the mouth, Grendal futility attempted to get up while Octavius quickly leaped up to the front of the fallen creature's face. Without hesitation, the legionnaire ran his sword through Grendal's head, and ended the ancient monster once and for all.
Ymir's eyes widened in brief shock, before he resumed his stoic glare. Jotun appeared to be finally recovering as well, and rose to see his brother slain. Ymir simply glanced an expression of apathy to Jotun, practically telling the giant to go all for it, and Jotun immediately barreled at Octavius, consumed by not a desire to avenge a fallen loved one like a human or mamono might, but instead by a petty rage, seeing the death of his brother as a mere dishonor or mockery instead of anything personal.
Jotun screeched and beat his chest, hooting and gibbering wildly as he carelessly ripped his spear from Grendal's corpse to fight Octavius.
Octavius went onto the defensive once more, moving and weaving around and below Jotun's mindless swings and frequent stabs, before moving in closer to slash and ram into Jotun's thick coat of furs and bones before jumping back again. He could see that, unlike his brothers, Jotun actually had some form of armor in the countless thick furs, skins, and bones he wrapped himself up in, and as such, he had to slowly hack and cut away his layers of protection before going in to end the Giant. He could also note the jaws and teeth of Jotun's dragon skull was still sharp... just make it a bit slippery, and stomp on the skull, and two of the giants would be slain.
In time, most of Jotun's "armor" was torn or sliced off, decorating the floor of the throne room along with Grendal's blood. Further consumed by fury for the loss of his "trophies" and "prizes," Jotun stampeded at Octavius, charging at him like calvary. However, Octavius was now ready to begin taking his enemy down, and leaped back right as Jotun attempted to impale him, causing the giant's spear to embed itself into the ground. The Legionnaire quickly took the chance to run on the spear's length, leaping from it onto Jotun's helmet, and sliding down to make a large incision on Jotun's neck, making the giant shout and attempt to slap the back of his neck to squash Octavius.
Octavius moved out of the way, and let the blood flow from Jotun's wound, soon soaking his sword and mace in it. From there, he simply rubbed his weapons against the jaws of Jotun's dragon skull, and noted that the skull slowly slid, until it was like a bear-trap ready to spring on Jotun's head. Of course, the giant took no heed of it, too blinded by fury and anger to think clearly, and just kept on trying to jerk his spear out of the earth.
From there, Octavius positioned himself against the top of the skull, and shoved himself against it with all his power and weight, his own physical strength and the thick layers of armor weighing on him being enough to at least partially snap the dragon skull's jaws shut onto Jotun's head, making the giant twitch and spasm for a few moments, before it too, joined Grendal in death.
Ymir was certainly surprised with Octavius' tenacity, and chuckled deeply, "You are a worthy opponent, disposing of my brutish brothers so easily... Come! I have waited millennia for a true opponent to arise from your 'Legion,' and give me the honorable fight I've desired for so long, Human!"
Octavius silently nodded, focusing on defense again as Ymir was quickly upon him, smashing the ground and causing chunks and shards of crystals and stone to scatter around like shrapnel.
Ymir seemed to have no conventional weaknesses that could be taken advantage of like his brothers, so Octavius slashed and hacked away whenever he could, shattering the thin veil of ice that covered the giant, and though he could not easily harm or hurt Ymir like Grendal and Jotun, Octavius still managed to draw blood. Ymir appeared to be relishing the fight, as was Octavius, and soon the throne room around the two were soon overtaken by a blizzard caused from the magical ice on Ymir's hammer. It was a long and grueling fight, with neither gaining ground over the other...
It almost seemed as if entire days had passed during their duel, with Octavius slowly but surely cutting and crippling Ymir down, while Octavius' speed and armor saved him from any true, long-lasting harm from Ymir's hammer.
In time, at long last, Octavius finally got in close enough and stabbed Ymir right in the heart, causing the giant to stumble around, before falling back into his throne...
"... Good... job... Human..." Ymir hoarsely praised, before his eyes rolled up, and he breathed no more.
"... You fought honorably and valorously, Ymir," Octavius spoke quietly, sheathing his weapons and lifting up Ymir's hammer, taking it as a trophy, and to prove what he had accomplished on this day to the Legion. What little remaining monsters were in the caverns of the mountains fled before him, knowing they stood no chance against the one who killed all three of their mightiest champions.
...
Octavius soon arrived to the capital of the Legion, and brought Ymir's hammer forth in the plaza, dropping it before the crowds of people.
"Ymir, Jotun, and Grendal are dead. I killed them myself."
Between those words, the blood on Octavius' armor, the time he had been gone for, the lack of monster attacks recently, and the obvious warhammer right there in front of them, people could not bring themselves to question the idea that Octavius had indeed, defeated their ancient enemies at long last and scattered their rivals across what little territory they had left, making it pathetically easy to exterminate them all for good.
"Such an achievement is unheard of... Killing not one, but three legendary monsters?... Not even our greatest gods and idols have done such a thing..." one civilian murmured.
"And in the depths of the last, and most dangerous, territory of the monsters at that, all alone..." a soldier remarked, jealous yet proud of Octavius for his achievement.
"He should be our highest God... he obviously must know quite a lot, and his skill, power, and valor is unheard of, even compared to the deities and war heroes early on..." another mused.
"He must be a god!" another said, "How else could he pull off such a feat? He must be a living god, right here in the flesh, just like the other deities! But he is undoubtedly stronger and superior to all of them!"
"Yes! That must explain it! He is a god, he is the God! And as such, he must be one to preside over all other deities!"
And, before Octavius could even have his own say in the matter, he was apotheosised into a God.
"Tell us, o Great God! What is your name?..."
"My name?..." Octavius said quietly, not really used to talking since he was just an experienced legionnaire in the army, "I am Octavius Zenith, Slayer of Grendal, Jotun, and Ymir."
"Then hail to you, Lord Zenith! May you achieve even greater deeds and valor in battle!"
That's the problem though... There is nothing left to conquer on this land... Granted, there are sea monsters, but they're more of sport if anything. I'm apparently the Lord of the Legion now, and it's all for nothing, because I don't have anyone to war against... Octavius thought, ... Unless... There might be other lands out there, with other people... Yes... I can build a navy, and sail to other lands for conquest to continue our eternal war...
"Very well then," Lord Zenith cleared his throat, getting the attention of his people, "If I truly am your Lord and Chief God now, then you will begin building a mighty navy, for the simple purpose of not only waging marine battles, but to transport our armies across the seas, to land on the shores of another continent and fight against them in the absence of our monster rivals. Am I understood?"
"Of course, Lord Zenith! It shall be done!" some of the constructors and engineers among the crowd immediately left, off to build a fleet to find and invade a new land...
I did not expect to reap such an excellent award like this for slaying those three... But it is not unwelcome. Now, to make plans and find a way to keep the Legion busy until we have a new punching bag...
Author's Notes:
So, this is now a thing. Since I am currently scaling the massive wall that is Writer's Block or simply aren't interested in writing at the moment on my other stories, I decided to go ahead and make this. Let me know what you all think about this. Is it shit? Is it edgy? Is it ridiculously OP? Is it strange that Alipheese the First made the "Proto-Monsters," just as Ilias made the "Proto-Humans?" Is Cassandra still an asshole? Is my interpretation of the Old Spider Queen too off or strange? I don't know, but I certainly want to know what you think about it all!
Oh, and some notes:
Q. Is Shadow of Undeath/King of the Goblins dead?
A. No, it isn't. Just stumped on what to do is all. As I always am.
Q. Is Dalek of Zero dead?
A. I admit, it does look dead, and it might be in a hiatus for god knows how long to come. One day, when I'm re-interested in the FoZ series, I might pick back up on it again.
Q. Is this VN MGQ or MGQ Paradox?
A. I'll stick mostly to the original trilogy for now, though I may (in other words, most definitely,) use Paradox to fill in some gaps and spaces, such as what Cassandra looked like when she was younger. Some things however, such as the original Spider Queen (who was only mentioned to have died without a heir or successor, leading to the Spider Princess we know now,) and Spider Princess' name (which for some reason wasn't given out by Paradox 2, unlike Vampire Queen Fatima, Queen Ant Antine-Ann, Queen Bee Miria, etc.) are entirely my thoughts and fill-ins.
Q. Will there be lemons/gore?
A. To be honest, I probably won't write any of those scenes. Suggestive/Flirty/Lewd tones might be in, but outright sex or detailed torture will likely not be seen. Trying to get me to it won't help either. Besides, I'm an awful lemon writer, and gore is probably the reason why nobody reviews or comments about Shadow of Undeath nowadays.
Q. Does this whole thing imply you'll actually answer/respond to reviews now?
A. Yes it does. I'd like to try and establish a closer relationship with my readers this time around, and I'll apply this to Shadow of Undeath as well when I pick back up on it. It's already a thing I do in King of the Goblins, and it seems to work pretty well.
So, without further ado, I bid you all a good day!