A giant creature, much like a centipede, but with legs in all directions and a mouth that opened like a slit across its body, let out a great screech as it collapsed along the shores. It was covered in many gauges and stabs, vile green blood leaking from its corpse
A group of seemingly humans gathered around it, one resting on one of the legs like it was a seat.
"That's another one down," one of his comrades said with a smile. "I was worried. I like Tasmania."
"There'll be another soon," Max said with a sigh to his fellow Eldrititans. "More and more of the pests drop through with all the gods here, and they don't care. Typical."
"Look on the bright side, at least they only gathered here because the Queen got hitched," a female one said with a grin. "Who would have thought too? I mean, I HEARD that old Granny Az was chasing a mortal throughout his incarnations until he agreed to marry her, but I didn't really believe it."
Some of the others chuckled as well.
"I don't know if he's a blind idiot as well," Max said levelly. "But he certainly hasn't gone off the deep end with power. He's at least trying to keep things stable for now. But the only real upside to this situation is that most of the gods are focusing on Earth and not the other planets."
"We could always go kill him," the female suggested with a smirk. "He's, what? Not even an Elder yet? We time it, and I do mean time it right, and we can gut him out of that nice human shell he still has, and poof! No Eldritch King for a few thousand or million years."
"Yeah, but we're not ready to try and take the Queen on herself," Max said with a frown.
"Perhaps Bell has the wrong idea," another said. "The King is still human, mostly. Maybe we can convince him to join us. We don't need to bother with the Queen if she just, as the humans would say, retires with her husband to their own little love spot of the universe."
Max hummed in thought before frowning as he looked up and saw something hovering in the air. It was like a black snowflake.
"What interesting ideas you all have."
Max instantly turned around, his arm forming into a blade of gnarled elder flesh.
But the Great She did little more than chuckle, Max's blade repelled. The leader of the Eldrititans was sent flying, gashes appearing all over his body.
"Max!" several of his comrades exclaimed, rushing to stand in front of him, barriers and weapons pointed at the glowing golden eyes of the Black Pharaoh.
Max gritted his teeth, standing as his wounds healed. "Nyarlathotep. Messenger of the Gods, the Queen's vilest spawn."
"Such pretty titles you give me, little fetus, Lord of the Unborn Specks," Nyarly returned in kind, glancing at the corpse of the giant monster. "That wasn't very nice, you know. Killing one of mine."
"It's always a pleasure to rid you of a toy, Bitch!" Bell screamed defiantly at her.
Nyarly responded by tearing her throat out. She didn't move or teleport, she simply reached out, and Bell's neck was suddenly ripped out and in Nyarly's hand. The Eldrititan did not die, merely collapsing and holding her windpipe as her blood painted the sands.
"I don't like that one. Mother would like her less. Pray you never meet her. I'll make sure she finds you before the Kungur even knows you existed," Nyarly warned with wide, bright, unholy eyes, tossing the flesh aside and flicking the blood from her fingers as if it were filth.
"Don't try to scare us, Messenger," Max said with a glare. "You know as well as I do that we Eldritch are eternal. We always return."
"Yes, you do, again and again. I wonder how many deaths she will take from you, Leader of the Nusmusafts," Nyarly mused airily.
Max bristled and his skin rippled with his true form beneath. "Do Not. Call Us. That."
"Why? It is what you are. Or what you're not. "Not Mortals" is the first name we gave you, little fetus playing at mortality and morality," Nyarly teased.
"Better than any game you play," someone muttered, fearful but annoyed.
"Hmm, sometimes," Nyarly agreed flippantly before addressing them fully. "Let me make this perfectly, cosmically clear to you. If the Sultan dies by your hands, the Sultana will rage. And her rage will devastate this planet you care for beyond merely destroying it, and untold scores of other worlds you would try to protect."
"And you care?" Bell asked, spitting up more of her blood from her still-healing throat.
"She's the Messenger, Bell," Max reminded sternly. "She might seem like their enemy at times, but she's ultimately on the side of her fellow Outer Gods. And they want Earth intact, with all their current and future worshippers among the mortals."
"Mortals you are desperate to save and protect, "Max,"" Nyarlathotep breathed deep. "Self-righteous hypocrisy. It tastes so new on an Eldritch God."
Max steeled himself. "What do you want?"
"Nothing. You killed one of mine, I thought I'd say hello," Nyarlathotep said teasingly, waving at them. "Tata!"
Like a black hole imploding, she vanished, a shockwave vaporizing the immediate area around her. Including a piece of the dead centipede, leaving a large, gory chunk of it missing.
"And don't come back!" Bell snarled feebly before turning to their leader. "Max, what now?"
His silence was as harsh as his scowl.
Meanwhile
Sona was not clairvoyant. She could not see the future, merely plan accordingly and make educated guesses on potential scenarios.
So, when a knock came at the door and Tsubaki returned from answering it to the meeting room of the Student Council, aka Sona's peerage, with an absurdly pale look on her face, Sona didn't know for certain who it would be.
But she had a good guess.
With a deep breath, she walked to the door and opened it up.
She did her best not to react….mainly by keeping control of her bladder.
"Queen Aza," Sona addressed, keeping her voice calm while glancing at the other figure with her. "King Issei. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"You have a problem," Aza said bluntly.
"I...do?" Sona asked with a furrowed brow. "Personally, or devilkind collectively?"
"Devilkind, but I think most -kinds won't be happy about this," Issei informed awkwardly.
Sona nodded. "Please, come in. Would you like some refreshments?"
"No, Issei already gave me a drink before we got here," Aza answered without hesitation as she walked in.
Sona furrowed her brow at the wording, eyes pointing to Issei with a questioning look.
"Yeah, that kind of drink," Issei confirmed with a grin that was half-apologetic, half-perverted.
"I see. Would it be rude to ask if the shamelessly casual mention of intimacy is one of her quirks or is that an Eldritch norm?" Sona asked curiously.
"Mostly an Outer God one, honestly," Issei answered, scratching the back of his head. "The other Eldritch Gods always know when an Outer God is getting laid, especially Aza and me."
"Hmm," Sona said as she closed the door.
In truth, Sona was just trying to stall the royal pair long enough for Tsubaki to warn the rest of the peerage.
Within a few minutes, they were sitting at the long table used for meetings both regarding Sona's matters as a devil and as student president. Her peerage stood around her in silent support and obvious intrigue over what was going on.
"Well, glad to see all of you are doing okay," Issei said, glancing over the peerage.
"Hmm? Do I smell another dragon in the room?" Aza asked idly, taking a sniff. "Issei, do you smell it?"
"Aza, I can't smell souls that well yet," Issei reminded.
"Umm, that would be me. Ma'am, Sir," Saji informed, holding up his hand awkwardly. "My sacred gear is the Black Dragon's Pulse, containing part of the dragon Vritra."
"That means almost nothing to me, but thank you for answering," Aza said honestly.
"You're...welcome?" Saji answered uncertainly. "Was that...why you came here?"
"Oh no, no. We would have just asked that instead of making a meeting out of this," Issei admitted. "There's a cult that's going to summon a Dark Young to attack devils."
Sona's eyes widened and she could feel her subordinates grow tense. "That is serious. Do you need our help to stop them?"
"In a way," Issei answered.
"Um..." All eyes went to Tomoe, who swallowed under the eyes of Aza and even Issei. "I-I mean no disrespect! But wouldn't stopping the ritual or telling them not to summon it be...easy for either of you?"
"Yeah, that's where things get messy," Issei said with a sigh. "Sona, how much do you know about Shub?"
"I know she's one of the "kinder" Outer Gods, for lack of a better word, and most who know of her say she is actively on humanity's side," Sona answered, steepling her fingers. "Why?"
"She also considers all her worshipers to be like children," Issei added meaningfully. "And this is the part where our various limbs are a little tied. The cult isn't doing this just because they can. They were attacked recently, by a devil. A lot of cultists are dead or missing," Issei said with a firm look.
Sona tried to keep herself from paling. She mostly succeeded. "I understand. What is it you suggest?"
"Simple," Aza said bluntly. "The ritual is literally being done in the name of revenge. If this Devil is killed, the ritual will not work. All you need to do is deliver them to us, and then only one devil has to die."
Sona took a deep breath. "We need time and information."
"You'll have both," Issei assured. "The ritual won't happen for a few weeks."
It wasn't a lot of time, but it was better than it could have been.
"We're not going to war with you over this."
Sona stiffened as she realized that the Eldritch Queen was looking right through her enter existence and reading her like an instruction manual. "I-"
"You were worried the Eldritch were going to declare war over a single cult being destroyed," Aza summarized knowingly. "If we did that, we would have destroyed the world long before your species even existed."
Sona bit her cheek to keep calm.
"Aza," Issei spoke up. "You're doing that thing again. Where you sound very ominous and scary."
Aza blinked as her expression lightened somewhat with an apologetic tinge. "Sorry. I'm still trying to learn all the different facial degrees of seriousness."
"Facial...?" Saji repeated with a frown.
"I was trying to assure you, not scare you," Aza explained with a sigh, looking at the rest of the devils in the room. "I will never understand how mortals master all the quirks of having a face."
There were some uncomfortable chuckles around at that.
Sona took a breath. "I see. Thank you, Queen Aza. I appreciate the sentiment," Sona said, and she meant it. "Do you know why they attacked the cult? Who they are?"
"The who we know, the why is still a bit unclear. We know it wasn't self-defense, they came in spells blazing," Issei informed.
It was Aza who answered. "I'm told he's of some nobility amongst you. I believe you call him Diodora Astaroth."
Sona resisted every urge to reach her hand up and rub her eyes.
Well, this was a fine mess.
Meanwhile
Diodora scowled in displeasure as he studied his "prize."
Oh, she was pretty enough. Not quite on par with that nun he had been looking forward to breaking in but on par with any of the others he collected for his peerage; long blue hair, a slim form, and sky-blue eyes that he didn't recall ever seeing in normal humans, not this shade at least.
All in all, she was a sufficient replacement for Asia Argento…even if he had to raid an eldritch cult to get her.
And now he had her just where he wanted: Bound by a magic circle, on her knees and at his mercy.
The trouble was...
"Mmmmmm!"
She grinned, actually grinned through what should have been a sustained shock of magic that should have left her unable to think, only gasp and scream in pain.
He hadn't broken her yet, because of all things, he had picked a masochist.
But the minute it subsided, she went back to smirking defiantly at him. "What a lovely treat, Mr. Devil. I could almost forgive you for killing my brothers and sisters in faith!"
Diodora gave her his usual, too-wide-to-be-genuine smile. "It's a shame you won't. I never toyed with a masochist before. It might even be an interesting turn of pace. Breaking you through the very thing you like. I'm not sure if I could pull it off, but it would be fun to try!"
"Yes, well, I suppose it would be nice to be around a woman that you didn't have to mind-break to spend time with you, Mr. Devil," she taunted.
Out of pure instinctive wrath, Diodora shocked her even more.
The cultist just started laughing. "Ohhh, you must REALLY want me to forgive you! Tell you what? If you can impress me, I'll ask the Great Mother to be merciful and only kill you instead of taking your soul."
Diodora snorted. "Please, don't pretend. We both know your gods carry very little about their cults. More so when they have so many more to spare."
"You don't know about the Goddess of the Woods, do you?" she guessed knowingly.
"What's there to know about any of their kind?" Diodora said dismissively, waving her off. "The less one knows, the better. They're all just cosmic hazards to avoid and they'll pay no attention to you."
"None of that is wrong," the cultist acknowledged. "So, while I'm waiting on you to be slaughtered like a pig to feed to the Black Goat and her Thousand Young, might I ask why you attacked us? I thought the Devils were ones trying to play nice with the Eldritch."
Diodora sighed. His other peerage members weren't this talkative during this. The only sounds they made were the ones he enjoyed: screams of pain and desperate pleas for mercy. "There was this nun, one of the Christian humans? I was after her, but she ended up being given to your new King."
"The King has a nun!?" she asked in surprise. "Okay, I actually will ask for mercy now. That was valuable information."
"I'm thrilled," Diodora drawled. "No, obviously, I'm not going to try and steal from someone like that. But I thought I should collect my compensation from one of the many little infestations of Eldritch cultists. And you seemed like a good fit, until now."
"So sorry to disappoint," she shot back with a smirk that shattered any possibility of it being sincere. "But in short, your prey got stolen by a bigger predator, and you decided to scavenge from the smallest fringes of that predator's metaphorical territory. By the stars, you are as petty as you are twisted!" she said, more in praise than accusingly. "You really should have considered joining us! I can only imagine the fun you would have had with the right cult."
Diodora frown. "I am Diodora Astaroth, one of the great pillars of Devil Nobility. I would never lower myself to be the neglected pet of a tentacle freak from beyond the stars."
"Hey! Who are you calling neglected!?" she asked in annoyance.
"Just how past sanity are you already? I thought for sure you were one of the less tainted there," Diodora said with disappointment. "On second thought, I'm done with you for now."
With a snap of his finger, the door opened as three of his peerage entered, including his silver-haired queen. Perfectly in sync, they kneeled before him. "Yes, Master Diodora?"
"Take her away, stuff her away somewhere secure while I think about what to do with her," he said flippantly.
"As you command, Master Diodora, they said, two of them moving to grab her once the magic circle was dispelled.
"See you soon, Mr. Devil," the cultist called over her shoulder with a malicious smirk.
"Milla, my queen," he called out with a smirk, making her stiffen and stop. "Stay a bit. I need to vent."
"...Of course, Master Diodora," she said, hiding any despair or hesitation as she turned to him again.
She walked back up to him, and Diodora smirked as she began to remove her clothes.
Despite her mask, he could see it easily. The fear, the terror he had instilled firmly in her when he had broken her will.
And he licked his lips. Broken in or not, his old toys could always use some maintenance, some...remedial lessons.
Besides, her face was so cute when it was twisted in terror and agony.
Meanwhile
"Why do I feel the sudden urge to punch someone?" Issei asked idly as they left school for the day.
"Maybe someone said your name?" Aza suggested, leaning closer to inspect something on him or in him that only an Eldritch could see. "Can you do that yet?"
"No, that's not it," Issei answered before shoving it to the back of his mind. "So, how is Shub doing?"
"Oh, she's fine. She's used to her cultists dying, she is just glad she has more. But yes, she will be sending one of her older fauns if that ritual is done before this devil is dead," Aza informed, jumping onto of a small stone fence and balancing on it as she walked. "Humans have trouble doing this?"
"Aza, humans only have one sense of balance. You have, what, twenty-nine?" Issei pointed out.
"I'm not sure what counts as balance, so maybe?" Aza answered idly, jumping off the end of the fence to rejoin Issei.
"She does realize the other factions will HAVE to try and kill it if she does, right?" Issei asked warily.
Aza frowned, but it seemed like a pout. "Do you want to just stop the ritual?"
"Not really," Issei answered in resignation. "Look, Aza? I get it. You have a good point about all this. We're holding our own in line as much as we can. We need to make the Devils hold up their end by also being accountable."
"I'm glad we agree, but I'm sorry the situation displeases you," Aza said in sympathy. "All of this worry is rather moot if we assume the Devils will handle the situation before a Dark Young is unleashed into the Underworld."
"I guess that's true. We have time before we need to worry about anything," Issei said before furrowing his brow in confusion. "Speaking of time, where is she?"
"If you want, why don't you try calling her?" Aza said, smiling encouragingly.
Issei stopped, prompting her to as well. He looked around briefly, finding they were alone. With a shrug, he decided to give it a try. "Yog-Sothoth."
The instant the sounds left his tongue, a portal opened in the ground before him. From it, Yog walked up as if ascending an unseen staircase. "Yes, Kungur?" she asked curiously, glancing at Aza briefly before giving him her full attention. "You have the situation with this devil pretty well handled. Is something wrong?"
Issei was surprised to hear her so concerned, or that she even had to ask. "I think I should be the one to ask that? You haven't been around, or even listening in lately. Which is weird, since you normally have a future Yog watching us."
Yog sighed. "I apologize. I've been checking up on some things that I can't observe without...being there in a more literal sense."
"Things?" Aza said with a frown. "Yog?"
Yog grimaced with an uncertain look-
Iangu
Yog smiled reassuringly. "Oh, just giving you royal love birds some priv-"
"What was that?" Issei asked suddenly.
"Hmm? What was what?" Yog asked with a blink. Then her eyes went wide in dread. "Oh."
"Oh, what? It looked like you glitched in place for a moment. Is your human form on wrong or something?" Issei asked in confusion.
"Ah, that happened," Aza said with a grin.
"Oh no," Yog said in shame, covering her face.
Issei looked between them both with a frown. "What, what am I out of the loop on?"
Aza chuckled. "Well, you know how we've talked about you getting some Aza-perks? Some traits that you get just because of your connection to me?"
"Yeah? You were a bit vague on it since you wanted them to be a surprise and not get my hopes up if they took a long time to develop," Issei recalled.
"Long time for mortals, but yes," Aza agreed. "One of them is that you gradually become immune to time itself."
Issei glanced up in thought before answering. "I mean, aren't all Eldritch immune to time a bit?"
"Yes, but also no. See, Yog here can travel back in time and redo an interaction with anyone, even an Eldritch. But with Eldritch Gods, it only works because the amount of time that is reset is so tiny to their perspective, they don't even notice it. Due to my eternal frustrations with time itself, I always notice when she does this, but I'm used to playing along."
Issei frowned, looking at Yog. "What, you constantly redo any meeting you have, with anyone, until it goes exactly how you want it to?"
Yog stared at him for a moment, until she vanished. She didn't use a portal, she was just gone.
"The hell?" Issei said in surprise.
"Well, that was rather rude," Aza said with a disappointed frown. "I'll have a talk with her later, Issei."
"Alright?" Issei answered uncertainly, but decided to change the topic, "What was she checking on though?"
"Hm? Oh, right, that's when you noticed her looping," Aza recalled. "There are several Eldritch that can shield themselves from the eyes of time. One of them is Nyarly, as you can guess."
"Okay, but if she can't find them with time, how does she find them?" Issei asked idly.
"She doesn't. She was checking to see if they were perhaps tampering with the various prisons of certain Eldritch Gods, to see if her sight had been fooled there," Aza explained with a hum. "But if someone was doing that, it certainly wouldn't be for any good reason. Well, minus Hastur's daughter, but we have her locked up already."
"I feel like I need to know more about all of that," Issei remarked in surprise. "What's this about someone's daughter?"
"Ithaqua, the daughter of Hastur," Aza answered with a sad look. "It's not a happy story. Can we save it for another time?"
Seeing her mood, Issei relented. "Sure. Just when I think I'm getting settled into this Eldritch King stuff, new curveballs show up."
Aza furrowed her brow in worry. "Is that a bad thing?"
Issei hummed, staring up at the sky, and to the stars beyond that thin shell that allowed lie to prosper on this rock. "No."
'Not at all.'
End of Chapter
Admit it, I know a lot of you didn't like the Eldrititans, so I'm sure watching Nyarly clown them as a bit of fun. Meanwhile, Diodora is still Diodora, and motivating Issei to punsch him even before they meet. But overall, Issei and Aza are doing royal things, while Issei also finds out that Yog's personaity is somewhat a fraud. Somewhat.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy this! Until next time!
Early viewing of chapters 28-29 avaliable on my pat-reon:
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64