The Karcist and the Lord
a S.C.P. Foundation Mythos x M.G.E. crossover
Chapter 41: Strong armed Diplomacy, Part 2
Mikheal ran down the halls into the lobby of the Temple of the Void, where Seriallian and several Void Seraphim were. He stopped for a second, and noticing the Angels were gathering around him, and reached for his mace subtlety. When their leader inspected him from afar, and then waved a hand towards them, the Angels backed off. She then opened a portal, and gestured for him to follow.
Guess my running through the halls set their nerves off, he thought, and followed the Arch-Angel through. As they came through into Heaven, Seriallian created another portal, and then pointed to it.
"Go, it'll take you to Lescatie." she said bluntly, staring at him impassively. Mikheal inspected her purplish skin, and noted the cracks in it. At a snapping sound, he snapped out it and left for Lescatie.
When he appeared in the courtyard, he immediately saw the Royal Makai Army formation had formed a shield wall, which relaxed as Fallen Brides Sasha and Merse appeared.
"Weren't you supposed to be in Wonderland taking care of Druella with the Queen of Hearts and your wife?" Sasha asked. The Dark Priest had a confused look, and several scars on her body indicated she had some rough encounters with the Sarkic warriors. The Monster King looked around and saw that there was minor destruction to the castle, and creased his eyebrows in worry. "Why did you allso come out from heaven, and does it have to do with the Cult running off suddenly?"
"Yes and no, but the Grand Karcist that is worshiped by the Cult of Nalka paid us a surprise visit, kicked our asses, and is now in some space void place currently speaking with a fourth party that has shown interest in this world, and I was sent here to warn you that we have three weeks to evacuate the city." he summarized. Merse was the one to speak up this time in reply.
"What, why?" she asked.
"You know the Automatons that call themselves Mekhanites that just showed up and burned down Bernina? They are coming here, and as far as we know, it is likely they intend to raze Lescatie as well." Mikheal said. "At the current pace that they are moving, we have three weeks before they show up and turn Lescatie into a second Bernina." mutters and whispers of concern and worry about being attacked by the Sarkics while out in the open and exposed on all sides were suddenly heard. Mikheal raised his hands for calm and quiet, and then proceeded. "Thankfully, Ion declared a cease-fire to his followers, and as such they are leaving this place and ending military operations, but only as long as we do the same for them in kind. While we gather the caravans, I require an envoy who is willing to try and speak with the Cultists located in Kaellio Village, and ask if they are willing to render aide." As the Mamono tensed up, Mikheal turned and recognized the Lilium Aegila running towards him.
He initially smiled, but it died down when he saw the look on her face, and was knocked back as she slammed into him and wrapped her arms around him. As she let out some crying sounds, he then looked around realized that none of her Knights of Passion could be seen, which is odd since it was common for them to stay together with their husbands, several of whom he recognized by sight. When he saw that all of them had mourning clothes and depressed gazes cast about to any who approached, his face took on a stoic look, and he placed a hand on Aegilas' head, comforting his daughter.
The next several hours were then spent by Mikheal assessing the damage done to Lescatie and the death toll that came from the sacking it had been subjected to by the Cult of Nalka, and the reports painted a grim picture. The outer ring of the city were the former slums were rebuilt into an actually livable standard were practically wasted, and almost all of the people who lived there, Human and Mamono were either dead, or worse missing, presumed to have been taken as slaves by the attackers during the opening phase of the battle. The middle part of Lescatie between the former slums and where the nobles lived before being corrupted fared little better, but during the siege the Mamamo at least managed to hold their ground, especially where Wilmeria sacrificed her life to report the red hound like creatures were now dubbed Voice Stealers for their abilities as described by Aegila. Mikheal could only watch as she recounted the attack that wiped out her Knights of Passion.
Almost no damage was done to the noble quarters and and the castle temple of Lescatie, though this was more likely the result of not having the time to actually break into that part of the city before the cease-fire was declared. And that was not counting the water damage that was done by the storms sent by Odin, causing muddy conditions that bogged down both sides, making it and even more horrifying sight for the Mamono fighting to see that the Cultists of Ion were insane enough to actually attack them, despite the conditions. While the Order had its fair share of zealots and extremists, these were often few and far between. The Cult of Nalka however, were practically nothing but extremists and zealots, and the fact they were willing to march out and attack Lescatie during the storm showed this.
Mikheal cursed to himself, and then spoke to the Tengu that compiled the reports and was summarizing them while his daughters that were around waited for him to give them orders.
"Is there any pattern to the people that have captured by the Cult?" he asked.
"No milord, they showed no distinct preference to their kidnappings." The Tengu said. "As it stands sir, are you planning to try and rescue them in some manner? If you plan to, we'll need a plan of action that would require not doing so in a way that could be considered a military action against them."
"I'm aware of that, but I'm also am going to try and speak with the Mekhanites. As far as can be understood, there is a chance they were following the Cult of Nalka, and are enemies with them." Mikheal said. "I'm going to try and open diplomatic relations with them, and at the very least stall them to buy time for you evacuate the civilian populace."
"What? Are you serious? What about those that were kidnapped?" Venema said, her crimson eyes wide with shock. Mikheal turned to her.
"Their rescue I'll assign to you and the Fallen Brides." he said bluntly, then turned to Aegila. "Aegila, are you willing to come with me and try to help me with the Mekhanites?" the Monster King asked. When the Lilium nodded her head, and put on her helmet, Mikheal could not help but smile, since it has been awhile since he and his wife spent any time with their children. With that, he made a few hand motions, and summoned a horse made of stone. After he got on top of it, he offered a hand to Aegila and pulled her up behind him.
"Remember your duties and perform them well!" she cried out to the Mamono as they left the castle...
**POV SHIFT**
Road to Kaellio Village
As the Milita returned to their homes and houses, pasting by the brush with their addition, some of it rustled. After a few seconds passed, Monica and Ulrich emerged from hiding along with a few Mantis Girls and a Green Worm, having listened in on the conversation that occurred. Ulrich rubbed at his eyes, having been pelted directly in the eyes when the rain started and he looked up, and the Green Worm survived it despite many of her fellow softer bodied Monsters being killed by being lucky in a makeshift shelter of an Dryads' roots, which protected her and a number of various close by Mamono that would've been killed. Monica and Ulrich found her after fleeing the Order village, and convinced her to let them stay with them.
When the rains started pouring, Monica helped find as many of her kin and brought them to the improvised sanctuary, stopping after a Mantis tried to get to familiar with Ulrich. After the rain stopped, a Bat Girl appeared and claimed that Lescatie was attacked, and when the small group went to confirm this, they happened upon one of the Cultists of Nalka. They saw that he clearly had walked through the rain, due to how wet he was, and followed him. As a result, they now knew about the Crimson Wake, and were horrified when the conversation began to go into more details about it.
One of the things that sent shivers down Monicas' spine was when they discussed slaves being considered a prize to fight over, and the implications of bringing much of Lescaties' populace with them to the Crimson Wake. She knew about the Dark Elves and their clients, who were famous for their slave trade, but they at least had Demonic Energy to keep them from being abusive. And with what she had seen so far of the Cult of Nalka, and what its members are willing to do to for Ion, she already paled at what these people might do to their prisoners.
As they emerged out of the brush, the various forest Mamono looked at each other. While Ulrich kept an eye out for any signs of Nalkacite activity as they talked amongst themselves about what to do about this information. After awhile, Monica came over to the man, who held a crossbow he brought with him from Kaellio Village along with several bolts, both bought from the village, and given to him by the Dryad he stayed with the Amazon with during the intense storm for self-defense.
"What is the plan?" Ulrich asked, as Monica sat down next to him on a rock.
"Currently, we are going to run to Lescatie, and report to the Lilium there about what we have heard." she explained. Her husband nodded.
"I heard that, I meant..." at this, he paused, and looked around. "...what do we do if they know?" he whispered, smiling to pretend he was saying sweet nothings into his ear while a Grizzly watched and giggled audibly at how his hand covered his mouth and his wifes' ear. Monica sighed, smiling as he continued. "Do you think they suspect anything?"
"No, otherwise we would have been confronted about it." Monica replied. "Besides, nobody saw, or knows about that, with the exception of a now deranged couple of Order zealots." While she said, she herself wondered what could theoretically could happen, since she was the first Mamono to kill another Mamono. Even more, one that was about to, in the eyes of Royal Makai, about to claim her husband. While there has been cases, even in her own village of single Monsters fighting over a man but with each other and married Mamono due to the disproportionately large female to male ratio that has been growing as of late, none ever ended with one killing the other. In fact, most such fights ended with the Mamono often reluctantly forming a harem with the Human men in question, and as the Monster Lord was already working on a solution to fixing the problem, nobody from her family felt any pressure to do anything about it. As the two were in deep thought about this, one of the Mamono, a Mantis named Silvera for the way her white chitin shimmered in the light called out to them.
"Hey, are you going to come with us to Lescatie, or do you plan on making a road side show?" she asked, catching their attention. With their conversation interrupted, the two got up as Monica spoke.
"We're coming!" she answered, and jogged over with Ulrich following. As the group walked on ahead hiding in the brush and moving from cover to cover, they stopped at a crossroads. While they knew that the cease-fire meant that the Cult was not allowed to attack them, they didn't want to take the chance of finding themselves surrounded by the lunatics that it seemed to attract. As she looked down the road to Lescatie, she visibly froze in what looked like terror. As she backed up and away to a tree, the others could hear noises coming from it, and hunkered down as far as they could to the ground.
It was the rapid clomping of hooves with shrill screaming noises accompanying them, and Monica peeked over to see what the Mantis was doing as it got closer. Thankfully, she looked to see the Mantis use her bladed arms and powerful legs to climb a tree, but stared in confusion as she saw the Monster was at least halfway to the branches. As the others looked and noticed, the creature that scared her came into view. As the thing came into view, the Mamono were shocked and horrified by its appearance.
It was like a Centaur, but with the horse part being entirely normal, and with a Human fused the back from the waist up. The arms were elongated, and held in the air reaching to the Mantis. At least, that was when they didn't see it, as after a few seconds passed, the Human part turned its head to them, which had only indentations for eyes and a nose, and with a mouth lined with fangs, it spoke.
"Do you really plan to try and ambush me?" the thing said. "I knew where you all are the moment you laid eyes on me." the Mamono got out, their hands in the air to show they were not hostile. "The Human man as well." Ulrich crawled out from his spot.
"We were startled upon hearing you coming. Our friend in the tree was just making sure the road was safe. We were ready to defend her if you planned on attacking her." Silvera bluffed with a half-truth. The not Centaur glanced at her with its horse head, the same voice coming out of its mouth as an arm was pointed at her.
"You are lucky there was a cease-fire, and as such I was intending on driving your friend away, and making sure she stayed in the tree." the thing explained, the Human head glancing at the other Mantis girl menacingly as she tried to climb down. "As it stands, you may go your separate way, for my Karcist is on his way to the village known as Kaellio." it said pointing down the road the Mamono just went, before turning and walking down it. Silvera visibly shivered despite the coldness her face had, as the not Centaur Nalkacite disappeared from sight. As the Mamono gathered around, she spoke up.
"Alright, so apparently that was a scout making sure nothing is planing anything, so we are going to need to stay off the road. Monica, you and Ulrich are familiar with this forest right?" the silver Mantis girl asked.
"Yeah, I have been through here lots of times while hunting." the Amazon replied. "Guess this means I'm taking the lead then."
**POV SHIFT**
Temple of the Void
As the Pantheon and the Ambassador sat facing each other, the Chief God spoke. As she listened, the Monster Lord Deborah looked at the Chief God, and how she took charge of the situation at hand.
"Ambassador of Alagadda, you have come here to our world with the being known as the Red Lord, Wearer of the Mirthful Mask, and wish for entry into it. As the Chief God of Eros, I'm to stand as the mediator of this audience granted to you." the Chief God then cast her glance to the Pantheon, who looked around nervously as she continued, while Ion sat openly eying the two visitors with suspicion well Deborah sat not quite knowing what was going on. "Due to... circumstances that have been put aside for now, the Pantheon was not quite ready for your unexpected arrival, and as such are not quite prepared. If you are willing, I'll like to tend to this for but a moment, and explain what will be happening." she explained. The Ambassador politely waved a hand.
"I'm no rush. Besides, I'm not planning to be on your world for long." With that out of the way, the Pantheon and the Monster Lord turned their attention to the Chief God. Deborah in particular saw how calm and detached her arch-enemy was, the complete polar opposite of how she was viewed by her corrupted kin and when she tried to kill the Mikheal and Deborah. When she was given the reins, many of the Angels and Valkyries which now ally themselves with the Fallen God, even before they themselves were corrupted, had come to see how out of her league she was in. Many testified over and over how the Chief God was taken off-guard by the Succubus beginning her revolution and uprising. She began to become more demanding, wasted resources on futile attempts to overwhelm the Mamono forces, and in general failed in managing Eros, losing the confidence of the Gods who she berated whenever they questioned her orders, and even the tiniest inconvenience was enough to set her almost childish wrath alight.
This, this was a side of the Chief God that was the complete opposite. She was calm and collected, someone who was completely in her element, not making demands of the Pantheon as she spoke to them, and gave a run down of how the proceedings were meant to go down.
"Right now, the Ambassador wants to be allowed into Eros. However since he is basically a god like Deborah can be counted as one, due to our particularly designed world, he cannot be allowed in without your explicit permission, and to earn that, you are all essentially going to interview him and the Red Lord, and have a discussion with them about your domains, and how their being in the world will affect it. After wards, you will either allow him in, or not. If in the case of rejecting allowing the two into Eros, you must give a reason why." the Chief explained, and was then interrupted by Hel.
"Wait, what about Ion and his Klavigaar Nadox then, because we didn't give him permission to enter Eros or any of the dimensions attached to it." the God of Death pointed. Ion replied.
Nadox got in through the unintentional backdoor created during the War when Deborahs' forces at the now destroyed city of Royal Makai decided to poke a tunnel for a portal between my world and this one. Plus, none of you showed up when I called for audience, so the Chief God exercised her authority and gave me permission after the fact, since it was just me and her. The Fallen God screwed her mouth shut at remembering she didn't get any such news due to her rebellion, while the Monster Lord paled at the thought of what could have happened if it was Ion that stepped through first instead of Klavigaar Nadox at Royal Makai. The Pantheon also had similar thoughts, as they realized they could have prevented everything that happened by listening just once to the Chief God, and the possibility that this is a chance to prevent a second being like Grand Karcist Ion the opportunity to enter Eros.
"Speaking of which, I supposed Ion will go first, so you will have an example of what to expect and do." the Chief God said. "So, as I was saying about granting the Ambassador permission to enter Eros, if it comes to it that he is to be given entry into Eros, you will then be able to set conditions that they'll have to abide by..." as the Chief God continued to talk, Deborah toned out, her amazement and awe at the aura the Chief God was showing in leading her sister deities alongside Ion to potentially prevent things getting worse then they are now. She turned to the Fallen God, who was not listening, since she was likely apart of setting this system up. Upon noticing the way the Fallen God scowled, the Succubus spoke up.
"Something wrong, Chief God of Pandemonium?" she asked.
"Yeah, but I rather not talk about it." the Fallen God said, then sighed. The Monster Lord however, knew something was wrong, but decided not to press further.
"Alright, does everyone understand what they are doing?" the Chief God asked. Upon getting confirmations from everyone, she turned to the Fallen God. "Sister, are you ready to begin?"
"Yes, let us get it over with." the Fallen God replied. As everyone got back in their seats, Ion was the only one to step forward, while the Chief God spoke.
"Ambassador, we are ready to begin. As the most significant development of Eros has been the result of a war that has currently been put on a cease-fire, the God of War, Ion the Grand Karcist of the Cult of Nalka will judge your worth into coming into this world."
