September 2 2021

The God Hachiman of Rhozgelia

Chapter 9

Sudden Attack!

"Hey, right there?"

"Yes, fly down there. It will only be for a moment." The voice within me says. It sounds like it came from a single voice, yet it felt as if a thousand voices were talking at the same time.

I look down at the landscape that was illuminated by the twin moons above. We had left the plains and hills one week ago. Now, forests filled with trees of different kinds are on a landscape like an ocean of green. But what my eyes were on wasn't on any of that.

A massive active volcano releasing lava and plumes of ash was just several kilometres ahead of us. It's crater red and boiling, with numerous streams of magma slowly making their way down to the base. When looking at night, it even looks more ominous and menacing than it already is. Like a giant wound gushing pus and blood. Around its base was an area devoid of any plants, the ground was cracked where the lava had cooled and hardened.

I yawn, stretching my arms, legs and wings. My feathery appendages lightly shook as even their joints popped as I twisted the rest of my body around to release some tension. I absentmindedly caress and massage my lengthy white wings while I wait for further instructions. My bare feet dangled over the ship as I sat bored on the edge. I should have felt chilly when the cold breeze washes over me, but even in my current naked form, I feel nothing. He said that I don't need any clothes for what I'm about to do. I already turned myself invisible anyway. Nor do I feel any shame or embarrassment, no thanks to Mai.

I pull up my knee, resting my chin over it. "Not yet?"

"No."

"Okay…" To pass the time, I blow out a small ball of fire from my mouth. It dances around my fingertips, speeding around here and there as I move it to form shapes, characters and whatever things that come to mind. I start writing on the air in traditional High Rhozgelian, the different Elven and Dwarven Dialects, the Common Speech and also the strange written language of the sea-dwelling Naga. It's nighttime, no one is currently awake for night duty. Everyone is sleeping peacefully on their beds, Suu is currently acting as a pillow for Rushia. I explicitly commanded her not to let the child out since I have something to do.

I miss the sea, I think of my home beyond the stars was beside the sea, or at least near it. If I close my eyes, I can fool myself into believing the salty scent of seawater. I think of my home from time to time, but I've gradually come to accept that I should be focused on the present instead of mulling over things that I can't change. There are many things to do here, I also bear some responsibility to this land and what's left of its broken and scattered peoples. There's so much to do that I can't just sit still. Nor can I go around announcing my return since it might cause unforeseen consequences. If I left any friends and family in my other home, I hope they're doing fine even if I don't remember their names and faces anymore. I don't think that I was the sociable type, nor did I have droves of people who I referred to as my true and genuine friends. I may have one or two aside from my family, but I believe that I was a very guarded and perceptive person. Even my Mystic Eyes that manifested here is a curse of some sort. He said that I must have been ostracized very much for them to appear like this, and at such a high level of power as well.

"Hey."

"Patience child. Not yet."

I shake my head at his words. "No, I've been meaning to ask something."

"What is it?"

"Where is Rayquaza? You know, your giant green sky serpent thing." I ask the thing that's been bothering me for a little while. Well, I only found out about it this morning when I was going through his never-ending library in our mind. From the few paintings and rough sketches that it had, it must have been huge. "I expected her to be the first one to welcome us back upon our return."

"Unfortunately, even I do not know that. If my Divinity was at my prime, summoning and pinpointing her exact location is as easy as snapping my fingers. Her main task is to roam the skies and prevent any incursions by the Warp."

"Shouldn't you know about this? You are her creator and a God after all." That serpent was his other creation, aside from Mai. He said that he created both of them at the same time, and made them fight to decide their roles. The great serpent was much stronger and the defeated Mai took her place beside him as his personal Servant and organizer of the things inside his Gate. The winner became a semi-independent lesser Deity who's still tied to the borders of this land. As I recall, she was very helpful during the war, more than capable of reducing a Dwarven Fleet to molten slag. The last time that she was seen was when she darted towards the North, sensing the presence of Chaos and its encroachment into our reality.

"Your words hurt me. Even my memories are still fractured and incomplete. Some memories suddenly come back to me at random times."

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," I say and raise my hands apologetically. "Oh, I remembered the place of my birth. It's someplace called 'Chiba'. It sounds rather silly if you ask me."

"Good. That is very good news indeed."

I was about to speak when I suddenly sensed an extremely unpleasant feeling. Every single hair on my body stands on its ends, even my wing's feathers are instinctively raised threateningly. I feel a slight headache as a pulling sensation begins to spread all over my body.

The volcano is near now. Only several moments away before we go directly over it. I pluck a single white feather from my wing, it glows as it forms into an exact image of me. Just like before, I'm leaving a small part of myself here while I go about my current task.

"Child. It is time to jump." His voice is as calm as ever. Even commanding me to jump straight into the crater of a volcano sounds like a piece of cake in that tone. I give the ship one last look, and then make myself fall headfirst down at the red and molten maw below. The wind howled against my ears as I gained more and more speed.

I didn't feel anything when I went face first with magma, nor did my body or my wings feel the slightest kind of warmth from the molten rock that I just dived into. All I saw was bright red as I continued going deeper and deeper into the bowels of the volcano. A very thin barrier protected me, but I'd still be quite fine even without it. I stayed like that for several minutes, until I felt something down below.

"You have come across the barrier. Touch it with your fingertips and it will transport us to a pocket dimension similar to our Gates."

I nod at the God's words as a barrier of pure white reveals itself to me. The magma around parts before me until I was standing right on top of the thing. I go on one knee, as per his instructions and make contact with the barrier. True to his words, it feels no different from my abilities, and soon, I find myself standing over something solid.

Darkness was around me until I willed light to come forth.

I seem to be standing on one of the tops of a series of large rocky hills, or small mountains even, that slowly disappeared into the white tile-like ground at its base. In the distance were eight impossibly tall tree trunks that seemed to reach into the sky themselves. And around each one was equally massive chains that coiled around them in a knot with the other end either going through the white flat ground or burying themselves into the hills.

I fly up to give myself an aerial view of everything. As expected, it's white as far as the eye can see aside from the rocky hills that I just stood on moments ago. I feel like if I fly beyond the blank white horizon, I'd just end up going back here. As if this illusionary world was a small sphere in itself.

"Hey. Where are we?" I ask the God that resides within me.

"Child, remember the great titanic battle that my kind fought against the first creations?"

"The Old Gods, Divine Beasts, The Failed etc. Them? What about it?"

"After hundreds of millenniums of fighting and eventually defeating them, we assisted Mother in raising them to the heavens, creating their celestial prisons to permanently banish them from this world. Some of my Kin, including myself, consumed and took their terrible powers and abilities for ourselves. Most were imprisoned, some consumed, but a scant few were purposely left on Earth…

That thing below is one such creature."

I frown and look below, his words slowly dawning upon me. "You mean this thing…

"Yes, " The voice says. "My kind named this one, The Fire Demon, Rodan."

I see… So it's like this huh. The rest of its body must be under the ground. Still, this thing is massive. I can see parts of its grey scales the size of small mountains in the distance. I can't imagine him fighting a creature of this size and scope, its maw must be big enough to swallow even the mighty Rhozgelian Aircraft Carrier in my Gate in one gulp.

"Hey, this thing is still alive, right?" I ask, staring at it intensely to see any movement of some kind. I do sense the creature's presence, but it's passive and not what I imagined it to be. From his descriptions in the past, I think of them as nothing more than giant beings of pure hatred and malice. Now, I sense nothing but something akin to acceptance.

"In deep slumber, yes." The nonchalant tone of his reply made me unnerved at how casual he is. I guess since he beat this thing before in the past, he must feel a bit relaxed knowing that he can do so again if the time to do so arose.

"Have others escaped from their prisons? Either from yours or those from your siblings?"

"Yes. A shard of Hakumen-no-mono once escaped to a neighbouring Kingdom in the guise of an extremely beautiful and charismatic woman. She became the King's top advisor, no one could question her for fear of retribution. With malicious whispers and cunning, she brought the entire kingdom to arms and waged war against me. Countless lives were lost in that conflict a millennium ago."

"What happened after that?"

"Normally, I do not partake in the petty war among the mortal races, but when I sensed her vile presence in the minds of the soldiers, I flew to their Capital and did battle with the Demonic Fox. Their city was utterly destroyed, but I slew her once again and took her Divinity for my own. The kingdom that she raped and corrupted was ruined beyond comprehension as murderous cults had formed as they took her for their Goddess. Their land was inevitably annexed, and even before the start of the war, it was an area of lawlessness and strife, for the seeds that she sowed within the people and land itself will take much more time to heal."

My frown deepens on the new information as I fly up to one of the enormous pillars to see things from a higher angle. "Wait, I thought you said you consumed her Divinity and sealed away her body. How did she manage to come back then?"

"The mind of their kind is very resilient. They cannot die, but they are aware that they are sealed and locked away. That shard was a mere shadow of Hakumen-no-Mono, a fleeting thing. Though they have been stripped away from becoming their original selves, they are still capable of splitting apart from them in an attempt to destroy the barriers and seals from the outside. Every failed attempt, and every time I consume their shards, shadows and spawn, I grow ever stronger."

"That sounds like a hassle to deal with," I say as I reach out my hand to it, sensing any possible damage or corrosion. "So it's like that huh. You're keeping them locked up as a kind of food source or something. That's kind of disturbing. What about this dude, did he try to escape?" It didn't take long, and soon I was speeding toward the remaining seven to do the same.

"No, this one appears to be pleased with its current home and is more than happy to sleep the aeons away. He has not made as much as a twitch for the past few millennia."

"Oooh, I kind of see why. A fire demon would feel right at home deep in the bowels of a volcano such as this." The God and I made conversation as I went from pillar to pillar, and when I finished the last one, I flew overhead as they all started to glow gold. I sensed that everything was in tip-top shape, nothing was awry nor were there cracks in the seals and barriers. The systems that kept this creature imprisoned are still intact and operating at maximum efficiency.

"So… Are we done here? Can I go back now?"

"You may."

I give everything one last look, before reopening the Gate to go back to the physical world. Molten magma surrounds me once again and instead of going up, I become ethereal-phasing through it quickly until I exit from the side of the large volcano. I hover on its slopes, numerous streams of lava flow from the crater and small openings that dotted its side that inevitably go downwards due to gravity.

My wings disappear, and my body glows for a moment as I clad myself in my original long white robes. My feet touch an area where no lava flowed and I stretch out my hand in front of me.

"Come forth, Cyra." Though I didn't say it loudly, my words echoed as the ground lightly shook. A golden shimmering Gate appears before me, I hear her shrill cry before a gigantic eagle flies from it. She soars with her massive wings, and then circles around before landing on a large rock to my left. The gusts that she creates is enough to make a grown adult get blown away as if they weighed nothing but a leaf, but all it does is slightly ruffle my hair.

"Master, how may I be of service?" Our telepathic link activates and she spreads out her wings and bows low to me as I start talking toward her, skipping from stone to stone while dodging the occasional spew of lava. Her eyes were as large as my entire body, but she remained still and humbly focused on the ground.

"Hello Cyra, " I say while scratching her extended neck. She instinctively makes low sounds and her eyelids struggle to keep her eyes open. "I just checked one of my captives. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully as usual." I grab onto her feathers and start climbing up until I'm right on the base of her neck.

"Take me back to the ship. Fly high above and I'll just jump towards it or something." She finally raises her head from the ground and gets upright while spreading her wings. Since we were already on a high area, she lifted herself from the ground first before freely soaring to the ground far below. She flaps her wings several times, each one getting us higher and higher, and after a minute or two, we were already high above the volcano. Soon we reach the area above the clouds, and in the distance, I sense the ship continuing on its journey.

"Master, if I may be so bold to ask, why did you call for me? Teleporting there by yourself is much faster."

I yawn and let go of her feathers, lying down and crossing my legs. Above me were the twin moons with only several clumps of clouds to obstruct the beautiful view. "I'm not in a hurry, and even though it only consumes very little from my Magical Reserves, I'd still prefer this. I have to let you guys out now and then. Even though you pledged yourselves to me, it must be boring being cooped up in my Core with nothing to do."

"I see. Thank you."

Mortals who are magically gifted have their Cores at the centre of their chest. It's like an organ that isn't there, is intangible and has no physical form. Mages store the life force of their Familiars in a small section within it. The higher the Familiar's level, the more it takes up space. The average Mage can only have a cat, or a falcon as it is quite common and popular. The strongest ones, on the other hand, can have a juvenile wyvern in their service. Those of the latter are usually the Elves, for their wisdom and magical prowess only grow as they age. And since they are immortal, they can command many Familiars as long as they can sustain them. Their entire race is talented in magic, and they aren't afflicted by any disease except for the biological weapon kind. You can't kill them except by violently hacking them to death or something.

Seriously, even in this world Elves are OP! It's a miracle how they haven't conquered the entire planet yet!

I close my eyes under the night sky, listening to the silent flapping of wings.

Horned purple tentacles hiding among the clouds, blasting chaotic thunder.

Winged demons screaming for blood, wielding a serrated sword, crude clubs and other nasty weapons.

Voices whispering in your ear until you can't hear anything.

Hallucinating, seeing people and things that aren't there.

A large oval portal, roaring and spewing forth vile entities and a hazy black mist that dull the senses of even the most skilled warrior or marksman.

Said things are what happens when encountering a breach from the Warp.

*sigh*

Can't I take a break? I was literally about to go back to bed when this mess started happening.

I looked around with my Mystic Eyes, everything was black and white and was moving so slowly it was as if time had stopped. The other area in the deck of the ship. They all have expressions of utter terror on their faces. Kazuma was face to face with a demon, its mangled body sprouting disgusting tentacles, horns and spikes. The demon's long tongue was already around his neck, ready to pull him to itself and impale him through the gut with its oversized claw which takes up its entire arm. Darkness and Marine are about to be eaten by a sea urchin-like creature, instead of spikes, numerous tentacles cover its circular body where a maw with sharp and jagged teeth are waiting to eat them. The guns of the former do very little to hurt the beast, only becoming an annoyance.

Shiranui Flare is already collapsed on the floor, the presence of Chaos makes all but the strongest Mages and Psykers nigh impossible to channel spells and use their powers effectively. Through the purple haze that blocks most of their vision, I see blood from her ears, nose and the corners of her eyes and mouth. Her clothes are in tatters after being brutally hit on the side by one of the winged grotesque monstrosities. Their appearance ranges from basically a nasty mouth with sharp teeth with wings, to a disgusting amalgamation of different creatures, degenerated into indescribable monsters.

Shirogane Noel fares a bit better. She is covered in blood and guts after literally punching through the stomach of a rather large Gargoyle that had swallowed her earlier. I thought she was dead until the creature's stomach exploded in a rain of blood and she leapt out from and back into the fray. The Goddess Aqua used her magic against the Warp's monstrosities and was incredibly effective at keeping them at bay, but she is about to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

Chomusuke is on my head, Rushia is clutching my sides while Megumin and the bunny-eared girl are right behind me. Even this green little Necromancer was too terrified to move and instead ran back to me screaming and crying from terror after discovering that she couldn't bring out her magic properly.

I roll my eyes and sigh again, tapping into the God that resides within this body. "Hey. Can you like, take over for me here? Just your Godly presence is enough to close these Warp gates right?"

"Unless you want your Mortal Core to explode… The seals on your body would prevent me from doing so anyway."

"Damn. Okay, I'll just have to do this alone then…"

I point at everyone, blasting them with an invigorating magical spell that instantly heals all their wounds. As well as placing shields and barriers around their form, and mental protection to deny the Warp's effect on their magic. I summon my glowing strings from my fingertips, sending them around the bodies of all the vile entities from the Warp. Once all of them were enveloped by it, I prepared my stance.

I flexed my middle and poster fingers, and in an instant, every single Chaos spawn had its body sliced and cleanly cut into a hundred different pieces. My strings went through them like a hot knife to butter. Grisly bone, armour and all were all the same. They don't even know what happened to them.

The colour in my vision slowly returns, and in a single motion, I fly to and catch Darkness and The Captain, putting each of them on my shoulders. The monsters around us make gross squelching sounds, before exploding in a show of crimson as their chopped-up remains fall to the ground.

Everyone either loses their balance or stands clueless as they watch their enemies and the scenes before them unfold before their eyes. The two women that I carry, cry out in surprise upon realizing their current positions compared to moments ago.

"Wha-?! What the-?!"

"Genji-san?! Why are you-?!"

I place them back down, their eyes darting around and seeing all the Warp entities dead. They are surprised once again as they scan their legs and arms to find that their numerous wounds and cuts from earlier are gone. Aside from the unavoidable scratches and damage is on the clothes, they look quite fine.

Talking to them amid the noise of the ship's engines, thunder from the hellish Warp clouds around us is too much of a bother, so I link with each other their minds and open a telepathic relay. "Do not be afraid. This is Hachi- I mean this is Genji. Everyone, stick together and come to me."

Holy shit that was close… I almost told them my true name.

I hear sounds of surprise, both from sound and from their minds as I snap my fingers. The force of it shakes the ship and causes the haze around us to disperse quickly. The others soon see us and they hastily run to our side. Shiranui Flare was in a worse state than I thought, so I reached out my mind and took her by the waist towards us. Though her wounds are gone, the enormous mental stress that she felt from her earlier attempt at using her magic with the influence of the Warp remains so close. She hasn't even gained consciousness yet.

I tear the entire upper portion of my robes to cover and give her some decency. With everyone else around me, I give them a brief overview of what I did without revealing my true abilities too much. I kneel to her as the others form a protective ring around me.

"Thanks for that Genji-san, you're a lifesaver." Satou Kazuma says while holding his shortsword. The Captain and her silently watch as I put a finger on the Dark Elf's forehead. A kind of mental electric shock pulses from my finger which spreads all over her body.

"She's fine, just unconscious," I say. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as another Warp gate opens beyond the hellish clouds that surround us. I hear the flapping of wings, and then a bloodcurdling screech from dozens of demonic entities that have just entered the world once more. They bring with them the dangerous fog that clouds both mortal sight and mind, preventing them from making the proper judgement. To combat the darkness which hinders their fighting ability, I conjure a large ball of light right above and at key points around the deck and other areas above the ship.

With the Dark Elf resting on my left arm, I take out some hair from my head. They quickly grow back, and as I throw them to the side, they start glowing as each hair strand enlarges and takes shape. The others stand aside watching with amazement as each one becomes a glowing clone of myself. My Golden Clones each sprout eight wings on their backs, their faces were a blank sheet of brilliant light too strong for mortal eyes to gaze upon. They wield lances of light, twice as long as themselves as two other arms start growing from their sides.

"Go now!" I yell at them.

Without another word and their wings even moving, they dart off towards the Warp gates beyond the clouds as flashes of light and purple signal the start of their battle. I can sense all of what they're seeing and doing, kind of like being in front of numerous computer monitors. One fiend managed to tackle my clone, only to howl out in pain and let go when its skin made contact with the being of light. Screeches of demons and their vile brethren fill our ears until even Rushia had to cover them. Even with all of that, many still manage to slip past my clones and assault us. Most were missing parts of their bodies and dripped boiling blood, but they continued regardless of their injuries. Their disregard for the state of their bodies, and how they just throw themselves at us is enough to make even the most experienced soldier take a step back.

I turned to the others, who were still frozen with a mixture of shock and amazement. "Go! My Servants are fighting most of them, but don't get cocky!" I shout at them. My voice brings them to attention, filling their hearts with courage and clearing away what's left of the Warp's residue in their mind. A highly concentrated bolt of lighting and fire erupts from my fingers, stunning and jumping from demon to demon before turning them to dust. "Aqua, support the others in the rear! Shirogane Noel, be more careful!"

"Roger!"

"Yes!"

Satou Kazuma makes an unmanly shriek of surprise as I put my hand behind his neck. He roars and his body starts shaking from the sudden transfer of magical energy. "There! Don't make me save you again like last time, you imbecile!"

"Uuuooooohhhh! Power…! Overwhelming-!" He raises both of his arms and rushes toward the nearest winged demon, where he slices it cleanly in two and uses its body to jump up the mast chasing another one that escaped his second strike. Upon seeing him like that, the others resume their defence of the ship with more coordination and efficiency because of their shared telepathy and invigorated body and mind. After casting an impenetrable shield around the three non-combatants and carefully giving them the fallen Dark Elf, I order them to stay put as I rejoin the battle.

A jet of Holy magic, very effective against the undead and monsters from the Warp, fires from my eyes as I fry and blast any enemy within my vision. I shoot nonstop as the horde doesn't seem to end. Everyone that I destroy seems to be replaced by another two. I had no choice but to use both of my arms, wildly blasting arcs and jets of destruction magic exterminating dozens of Warp monsters every moment. One flew at me screaming, and I propelled myself towards it tearing a hole into its chest and throwing the remains overboard. Another one appears, and then another, and I impale all that follows with lances of fire, lightning and ice. To the eyes of the others, I must look like a whirlwind that leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. One of my clones flies past me carrying the heads of their slain enemies using three of their arms while the fourth one holds their spears and lances. A very large fiend, around five meters tall with bat wings and goat legs landed on the edge of the ship, causing everyone to lose balance. It roared and raised its impossibly muscular arm to crush me. On its chest was a large metal plate that must serve as a makeshift breastplate tied to its massive shoulders by rusty chains. And on those chains were skulls of the defeated ranging from human skulls to the horned skulls of Demons. It roars at me, a human face with broken fangs in its mouth, with a long forked tongue going out from it. Where its eyes were supposed to be was nothing but flesh that covered its sockets. I conjured another holy lance tied around my hand, sending it speeding at the black fiend. It was too slow and too late to react, impacting and going through its neck with a sickening sound. Blood starts gushing out as it attempts to remove it, but the other end that stuck out had already hooked itself around the giant.

It gives out an earsplitting cry as I pull my lance back, the giant doesn't even weigh a thing as it is violently pulled towards me. When its horned and ugly head was within my reach, I opened my left palm, barely touching it as white lines appeared around its body and leaving cracks in its wake. The giant explodes in a fury of light, one so large that other fiends nearby got caught up in the blast and perished. I see another one above, and after seeing what happened to its brethren, it turns and flees from me.

"Oh. No. You. Don't!" I grin, firing another holy chain as it does and ties around the fiend's grotesque legs. I got propelled upwards and quickly start climbing up the chain. The fiend roars and flies up and down left and right in a desperate attempt to shake me off. Its black and cracked skin exuded the same purple haze that affected Shiranui Flare so much. It reached behind its back to grab at me, but I sliced away its large clawed fingers with a single swipe from my hand. It roars in pain as I finally arrive just behind its neck.

Using brute strength alone I start pummeling at it, my arms becoming clawed and scaly like those of the Dragonmen tribes. Bits of flesh, skin and blood splatter against me as the fiend roars with agony and pain, its large wings flapping erratically as it starts to lose control. With the wind and haze upon my face, I finally find its vertebrae located in the neck. I put both of my hands on it and pulled in one go. The fiend makes another scream, and we both impact the deck of the ship, cracking the floor and creating a hole just as large. The ship shakes, and it rocks downwards but still flies on. I continue even as my vision is temporarily clouded by the cloud of dust and debris from our crash.

With a squelching sound of bones cracking and flesh-tearing, it separates from the neck as I raise the giant fiend's grotesque head over me. Black putrid blood pours out from where the neck was supposed to be as the fiend's large maw and five eyes twitch and convulse. In one motion, I crush it and throw it to the side, basking in the gore as it and the rest of its body slowly start to turn to ash and fade away.

"Hehehehe… GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I don't know when I started cackling with laughter. I only realized it when the others turned and gave me bewildered and disturbed expressions. I can't stop it, there's just something about our current predicament that gives me so much elation that I can't even begin to comprehend it.

I FEEL SO ALIVE.

I summon one of the dragon bone bows from my Gate, imbuing it with my magical energy and thus turning it into a true divine relic. Magical energy from my Core immediately takes the form of arrows as I start shooting at any enemies that I see. The arrows fly so fast that to a mortal's eyes it must look like it just teleports and strikes its targets after I draw and release them. Each Chaos spawn hit by them immediately explodes in brilliant light and turns to dust. From my palm, I send out pillars of light around the ship that automatically zap and blast any enemies that get too close. The others below might get overwhelmed again, I figured that those pillars would greatly help them out.

I throw away my bow as a particularly large and hulking winged monstrosity exists from a Warp gate some distance away beyond the purple clouds. Its giant body was akin to that of a caterpillar, with a disfigured human head and long-horned tentacles sprouting underneath it. It kept itself up with two large skeletal wings as it disgustingly continued to spawn smaller versions of itself on its rear.

I kick the mast behind, propelling myself towards it as I go beyond where the others can see me. Two shafts of light appear in my hands which elongate and become large scythe that hummed and shook with immense magical energy. The thing roared a terrible sound upon sensing my presence as it changed direction to intercept me. All it had was its bulk and size, it's too slow to effectively evade and avoid attacks in mid-air.

"Gahahahahahah! Comen on! More! BRING IT ON!" My scythe effortlessly cut open its hide as the top portion of my weapons released a highly concentrated beam which just as easily went through the creature and sliced it in two. It released a swarm of its spawn upon death, so many that they literally blocked my view to the other side. The massive corpse falls from the sky, slowly crumbling away and turning to dust. They buzz and scream towards me, eager for vengeance if they even understand the concept of it. A swarm of insect monsters conjoined and warped with other creatures beyond recognition. On their clawed mandibles dripped acid and disgusting digestive fluids. I open my mouth, my jaw unhinging and lowering inhumanly as I gather destruction magic. Instead of the concentrated beam from my eyes and scythe, I unleash a more spread out variant to better suit the situation. After two seconds of firing, all of them had turned to nothingness. I was about to put my hand on my jaw, but it automatically readjusted and turned back to normal on its own.

"Heh. I guess I'm really not human anymore huh."

More Warp gates open around me, and I sense unspeakable entities each more terrible than the last, slowly exit it and enter the physical world. With my enhanced vision, I look beyond the purple haze exuded by the Warp and see my compatriots surprisingly holding their ground. I gather holy energy in both of my hands, flying to my new adversaries and blasting them to dust before they can fully get out from the Warp gates. I see one of my Golden clones ahead battling similar creatures and I slice his foe in a thousand different pieces with my strings. I sense an acid projectile coming towards me, my pitch-black wings instantly materialize without my knowing and swats the thing away. Although my wing was hit, it sizzled on my feathers and evaporated like water on a pot. It came from something that looked like a cross between a mantis and a scorpion and was quickly cut and blasted into pieces from a lance that came from my clones before I could turn to face it.

After dispensing my wings, I let out some of my Divinity infused magic, gathering it into a large ball several meters in radius and hurling them at the portals that continue to spew forth foul entities. They explode upon impact, and one after another the portals slowly shimmer and fade, before completely disappearing from existence.

I was about to blast my 15th gate when I felt something tighten around my bare neck. The black metal hums and shudders as the red line on my skin that connects it to my chest become visible.

"Careful now. The limiters and seals are responding. Just use your normal magic instead of combining it with Divinity. "

"Ah shit." I grit my teeth and blow fire from my mouth. The flame quickly enlarges, spinning rapidly into a large vortex sucking in the air and any nearby monsters that get too close. All that is sucked in instantly burn away into nothingness as their remains fuel the fire and make it bigger and bigger. I give one last look around me before flying back to the ship where it already put some distance from me. White fire envelops my entire physical form, cleansing and purifying all the blood, gore and ash from me. My Golden clones follow my lead, and I land on an area still covered by purple fog. I snap my fingers and my vision gains clarity again.

I look to my side, and my shadow lengthens and then speeds off to impale a demon that managed to get behind the Captain that has gotten reckless again.

"Oi! Don't stay at the front! Get behind the melee fighters!" I yell at her via telepathy. My shadow sneakily goes behind each of my companions to defend them from any surprise attacks that they're unaware of.

"A-Ah! Y-Yes…!" She turns and gives me a quick bow before making a strategic retreat.

The non-combatants, Rushia, Pekora and Megumin huddle at the corner and are guarded by one of my clones who immediately flies off as I get close to them. Tears fall from Rushia's eyes as the demonic entities start screaming in their terrible bloodcurdling voices and unintelligible words. As a mage herself, she can hear the more intense whispers of the Warp and how it drastically affects her powers, unlike those who have no affinity for magic. Even Megumin was in a similar situation. I summon five more of my Golden clones as I usher the girls to safety under the ship.

The sounds of battle were still audible, even here. After carefully placing Shiranui Flare on the bed, I was about to go back outside when Rushia tightly held onto me.

"N-Nii! Don't go! Stay with us please!"

I kneel to her level and pat her head while motioning to my five clones. "Don't worry, they'll protect you. You have Suu-chan as well, remember?" After hearing her name being called, the slime wiggles out from her robes.

"I will protect them with my life, Young Master." Rushia's sniffles and reluctantly lets go of my hand. To make her feel better, I open my telepathic link with her.

"Rushia, don't you remember who I am? Nii is pretty strong, you know?"

Her red and teary eyes widen as a small smile forms on her face. Her small arms go around my neck, giving me a quick hug before she plants a kiss on my cheek.

"Go get them, Nii! Show them what you can do!"

I ruffle her bright green hair, and after nodding at Megumin and Usada Pekora, I exit the door and run back up on the deck. Immediately after I burst through the doors, I was face to face with a demon, although this one isn't as corrupted and terrifying as the other. It was a female, it wore no clothes and all over its body were numerous open wounds, with ones inflicted with a knife to mark cultist's curses and tattoos. It barely had any hair in its head, the left eye was hanging from its socket and its mouth was full of jagged broken teeth.

I was about to put it out of misery and blast it with my eyes when I heard a voice deep within me.

"Child, wait."

I take the thing by the throat while it desperately claws at my arms with bloody and missing fingers. In one leap, I go to the upper deck of the ship away from the prying eyes of the others. I let go and throw it on the ground as chains from my Gate open and pin her down.

"What is it?"

"The Warp's corruption is still new. This one can be saved."

I scoffed, looking down at the demon who screeched at me until blood came out of its throat. Disgusting, nothing more than what remained of its thin long hair covering its front.

"Hah? What do you want with this thing?" The ugly expression this thing was giving me pissed me off, so I kicked it in the ribs out of spite. It only grunted before resuming screeching at me and uselessly squirming from my chains.

"Their race suffered a tragic fate in the past and were corrupted and enslaved by scattered remnants of the more wicked Old Gods just when they opened their eyes. The Elves of old waged war to save them when I was still roaming around the world looking for purpose. And while their rescue is credited to my Brothers and Sisters and the Eldar Kings, I know of the bondage and suffering they endured. The Warp feeds on the souls of those who stray too far from the light, for they were once a part of it in the past. Minions of the warp always kidnap their people first to join their ranks once again."

"This thing looks unsalvageable, I say we just end it here and now." I point my finger at its head as I channel my magical energy on the tip. "This is a waste of time. I still have more enemies to kill."

Just as I was about to release it, a gate opened right in front of my face. And what I saw startled me.

My eyes were glowing red, on its corners were raw and pure Divinity that leaked into the air. On the upper sides of my face were also red cracks that did the same, and from those cracks leaked a black mist-like substance.

But what I was most surprised about was the uncanny and almost sinister grin on my face.

"I see that The Bodhisattva Hachiman's Divinity as a God of War is surfacing. By the way, you look like this mere seconds ago so do not worry about having being seen by the others." His voice was calm yet serious.

"What the-?" I take a step back. Suddenly my mind is clear and I realize what I was doing. I've felt this feeling before, it was like someone was influencing both my thoughts and actions. And no matter what I did, I would always end up following them as if those thoughts were my own. Yet they weren't. "Did… Did he just possess me?" I ask with disbelief.

"No, most likely. But I believe this is something you innately have, he merged with and you both are from the same land after all. It would not be surprising if you showed some of his tendencies and taste for battle as a God of War."

This was very subtle, just like the mental spell that Mai placed on me… If he didn't point it out, I would have continued acting like a bloodthirsty madman unaware that I was being influenced...

The corrupted demon on the floor snarls, spitting black blood crawling with maggots and other filth. It continues struggling against the chains that held it down. Unnatural body movement and strength it had, as its arm violently shakes because of the force being exerted on it to force it to move. I hear a sickening crack as it forcefully breaks its arm and reaches out to me. Its finger twitched uselessly as only a small amount of broken flesh and bone connected it with its elbow. The broken bones on its arm became visible, even its flesh and blood was black and had a foul odour to it.

I kneel down, its single black beady eye staring at me with hate and wanting nothing more than to kill and bring me to the Warp to become something just like it.

From the same eye that looked into my own bright red ones, I saw something glisten on the corner of it. It shouldn't be possible, everything that I read about being corrupted by the Warp and its effects on the body of mortals says so. Something like this is impossible. The odds are against such a thing. It's just simply impossible.

And yet, I see a single tear fall from its tar-like eyes.

My heart was moved to pity as I realised that this poor girl, corrupted and polluted beyond recognition still retains a tiny amount of her soul.

"Hey," I speak to the God that resides within me.

"Yes?"

"You said that she can still be saved, right?" I ask as my Golden clones above become mere trails of light, moving extremely fast and eliminating any enemies in our vicinity that still remain. We have already put some distance between the Warp portals as the ship's engines and wings are miraculously still intact. Slowly, the purple fog disappears and a clear blue sky finally greets us. In the distance, the Warp gates become covered by their haze, but I can still make out shapes within it and hear blood-curdling screams and screeches. The vortex of fire that I left does its duty, and not until seconds later did my spell activate. A blinding flash of light and fire erupts where the Warp gates were, the destructive power was so strong that I hear the masts crack above and the ship groan. The warp gates literally shattered from the blast and all the Chaos spawn within the explosion's radius were no more than ash.

"Indeed I can. This kind of purification is something that I had done uncountable times in the past."

With the Warp gates so far away and gone now, her erratic movements seem to calm down since her source of energy and what foul entity controls her mind and body slowly loses its grip on her. Even with that said, she is still dangerous if left to her devices. And without the Warp gates themselves, she will inevitably die.

"Child, shall I get to restore her to her previous self?"

I take a deep breath, looking down on both of my hands before gazing upon the girl. Her life force is so weak, barely hanging on and covered with smudges from too much exposure inside the Warp.

"No, I'll do it myself." I shake my head at his words.

My hands glow as I put them above her. I close my eyes, and I see all the impurities and corruption eating away at her very soul and life force like a parasite. There were so many layers and the corruption had dug so deep into her that the fact that she still has her original soul, albeit tiny now, is nothing short of a miracle. Still, it's my moral obligation to do so. Walking away would be an insult of the highest order to all that I stand for.

In Mother's name, this is going to be difficult...

Hello! It's me again!

So Hachi- I mean, GENJI and the gang stumbled into some foul entities from another reality out to kill them and take their souls. No biggie, he can handle that much I guess. And before you ask, yes the next chapters to my other fics are currently WIP. It's taking me so long to finish my smut fic damn, there's some drama in the chapter you see, and I'm quite inexperienced per se in that niche.

The following series will have some of its characters appear in this story in the future. It's not 100% guaranteed, but I think they'd be great IMO

1. Akame Ga Kill

2. Monster Musume

3. Rise of the Shield Hero

4. OVERLORD (You want to see Hachiman beat the ever UN-living shit out of Ainz? xDD)

5. SAO (Not really sure how I could add them tho. Just a little afterthought.)

6. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime!

7. HOLOLIVE (Mori and 8man would be great friends I think. I can also imagine Coco, Fubuki, Mio and Ayame having a cameo lol)

8. No Game No Life

So yeah, that's pretty much it!

Replying to some of the reviews!

Gooruh: I stopped playing Genshin Impact, so I don't really know how their characters and plot much, nor how to add their individual motivations into the story as a whole.

Noth-lyv: The Mystic Eyes are a reference to the Fate series.

DeMightyLubu: I'm not really bothered by follows and favourites. If I did, my main fic would have stopped after like two chapters xD

ArgonDFowl: Bruh Komachi was literally just featured in my other Alternate Ending +18 Fic lmao

Stay safe and I'll see you lot next time! :))))