July 11th 2016 Abandoned Field, American Midwest, 11:00 P.M EDT

I felt my body settle into existence like a knife sliding between the ribs of the world. I was suddenly THERE, taking up far too much space and causing the universe around me pain by my very existence. It took me a second to recognize the damage I was doing and figure out how to mitigate it, and once I did, I pulled out a mirror and appraised myself.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Nicholas Lord- S Rank Devouring Dragon God. The king of karmic consumption.]

It probably seemed like a mediocre upgrade to anyone else, but I knew how big of a change that really was. Gods, by their nature, gained power more from generalization than specificity. The more things you were a god of, the more powerful you were. Just look at Odin, who was the god of about a hundred different things, and one of the stronger Skyfathers.

So, despite 'Karmic' still being alluded to in the description, going from the 'Dragon god of Karmic Devouring' to the 'Devouring Dragon God' was a big fucking deal. It meant I was THE dragon god of devouring, above all others.

Which was good, because that was what I'd been aiming for. This next part would be a bitch, and if I didn't have the devouring godhood I would have no chance of pulling it off.

Crassus cleared his throat from off to the side. "So, I take it you got what you wanted? Prepared yourself for your futile final struggles? Because honestly, I'm almost excited to see what pathetic failure you have planned. You do know you can't beat him?"

"I do." I acknowledged. "He's at the peak of S-rank. I don't have a single thing in my arsenal that can even scratch him. Where is he, by the way, I expected him to have shown up?"

He grinned, glancing at the sky where the black clouds still roiled. "Oh he's on his way." Orange flashes of light bubbled out of the ceiling of black clouds, similar to the way the golden light had heralded the loss of my spear. I was still salty about that.

"So, are your women going to jump out with some sort of power drainer?" He asked casually, glancing around. "I don't know what you've been preparing, but I know you haven't acquired any S rank artifacts, and nothing less than that will even scratch him. If you were planning to find some perfect A rank item that will weaken him, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

I nodded. "Oh trust me, I know. I wracked my brain for ways to beat him. I'm sure there are a few beings strong enough to take him on, but the world would probably end in the process, and I like it here. It's where I keep all my stuff."

"So you're just planning to what?" He said with a laugh. "Fight him yourself? Bind him? Banish him? Come on, after all this build up I'm desperate to hear what you've cooked up."

I just winked at him. "Spoilers." I said with a laugh, and I fixed my gaze on the clouds. I wanted to take my true form. My NEW form. A hundred thousand foot dragon that could crack the earth and stir the skies. An S ranked dragon god beyond the reckoning or mortal men. But I couldn't. At that size, I wouldn't have any room to move. I might flatten a city with my tail by accident.

So I shifted to a thousand food dragon, abandoning my hybrid form as I stretched out to prepare for Ophidian arriving. This next part…was going to suck. I needed to do it, based on all the research I'd done in the plane of rage, but I wasn't sure I could pull it off.

I abandoned that train of thought. Gotta risk it to get the biscuit. My eyes focused on the clouds, and I ignored the obnoxious hardlight construct of my ancestor as I stared up at Ophidian.

"You know." I said as the clouds began to swirl in a giant whirlpool pattern. "I did some research on the big snake when I was planning. And I heard this neat little rhyme. His buddies with the magic rings use it, and it really spoke to me."

A hole opened in the center of the cloud bank, like an eye in the face of the apocalypse, and from the emptiness, a maw descended. A massive orange glowing snake mouth, open wide and ready to swallow me whole, descending with all the dragging finality of a slow motion replay of a meteor strike.

"This light is mine. This is my light. Whether in brightest day, or blackest night." My voice rumbled from a draconic thousand foot chest, shaking the earth, and covering up any other shaking that might be happening. "I lay claim to all that's within my sight. To take what I want, that is my right.

"It's a good philosophy." I continued, ignoring the slowly approaching snake head descending to eat me. "And one I've always embraced, even without codifying it. And I refuse to stop now. So now I'm going to fight. One more round, for all the jellybeans."

Crassus snorted. "That's it?" He said in disappointment. "THAT'S your grand plan? To say 'fuck you I'm not going?' You spent months preparing for this, and what, you're just going to try to take a chunk out of him?" He looked around, trying to spot my girls. "Was this whole thing just an elaborate suicide attempt? Did you just send them away so they wouldn't see you die? Because that's a bit sentimental for you."

"Maybe." I shrugged. "Maybe not. Guess you'll have to fuck around and find out. Maybe I've matured as a person."

He snorted. "You forget, I've been with you since day one. I know you better than you know yourself. You wouldn't have come here without some way out. Maybe it was dependent on the spear or something though. You're certainly ornery enough to deny your fate until the last moment to rob me of the satisfaction of watching you die."

"Maybe I am." I nodded calmly. "It doesn't matter anymore. Not to you and not to me. Because all you need to worry about is what I'm going to do next. And that's exactly what I said I'd do. I'm gonna take a big ass bite out of that slithering bastard.

"At the end of the day, this isn't really about power, or size, or planning. It's about who WANTS it more. It's about which one of us is the greedier bastard. And I've got to tell you. I think it's me. I think I'm the one with the biggest appetite." Though certainly not the biggest penchant for drama, this asshole was descending at a snail's pace. Really basting that fucking fear turkey.

Crassus literally sputtered in offense. "You? You think YOU have a deeper hunger than OPHIDIAN? Than the literal embodiment of the concept of Avarice, one of the seven forces on which the multiverse was built?"

"I do." I rumbled. Making sure to keep my voice going to rumble the ground. I wasn't out of this, but they didn't need to know that. That fucking snake had LITERAL tunnel vision, and I was going to milk it for all it was worth.

"Because I know what it means to want for selfish reasons. Ophidian doesn't really WANT. It NEEDS. It's pure hunger, but that means that hunger is informed by nothing. The empty yearning of a ceaseless consuming monster. It doesn't covet, doesn't desire, it just eats. I'm a greedy son of a bitch, literally. I WANT to eat that snake all up and make him into some boots. And so I will, I'll consume him whole. In the immortal words of a giant scotsman. 'Get in my belly!'"

I opened my own jaws, and PULLED, siphoning with all the power of S ranked devouring godhood. I pulled at snake and only the snake, ignoring the air and the clouds and the ground and even Crassus, returning the favor of tunnel vision as I narrowed my attention to a single point.

The snake paused momentarily, seemingly shocked into motionlessness as a cascade of orange power was siphoned out of his mouth. It slammed into me and I DRANK. I drank and drank and I didn't stop, letting the power pour into me, leach into my bones, burn through my veins like liquid fire until it filled me from my eyelids til the tips of my toes, and then I kept drinking.

I felt like Thor, trying to drink the ocean from a drinking horn, because there was so MUCH of it. I was an S rank being, a true power in the universe, and I wasn't a fucking THIMBLE compared to the monster in front of me.

Ophidian watched, eyes glowing with malice and amusement, and then it started to inhale, and the flow reversed.

I tried to fight it, to keep consuming, but even with my power cranked to the maximum I couldn't keep devouring. The energy began to slow, implacably resisting as I siphoned it back with all my might, until eventually, it began to reverse, building speed slowly, ramping up as all the energy I was filled with slowly began to drain away.

Despite my best efforts, I couldn't resist, and I felt myself slowly begin to empty, begin to diminish, as he ate back everything I took and then came back for seconds. His energy had mixed with mine, and now mine mixed with his as he filled himself up, gorging himself on my essence until I was a barely living shell, wavering on my towering legs as I stared up at the monster that had just consumed me.

And there, staring up at that bastard, I glanced down and over into the distance, and I started to laugh.

Crassus, who was apparently acting as Ophidian's mouth piece. Frowned at me. "What are you doing?" He demanded. "You're dying. You literally hollowed yourself out. He's going to slip you in like a worn in shoe. Fitting after what you did to Lincoln March. So why are you laughing? Why put on this farce of defiance. There's nothing on earth that can save you."

"That's true." I wheezed through my laughter. "Nothing ON earth can save me. But see, that's the rub, isn't it. Earth is a big crazy place. It's pretty special to a lot of beings. It's full of weird and ridiculous powers, angels, demons, aliens, and superheroes. Earth is a fucking singularity, and if nothing on earth can save me, I guess I'll have to use the planet itself."

I stopped laughing, stopped breathing, and let him feel what I'd been monologuing to cover up.

Crassus's eyes went wide. "What is that? What's that rumbling? What did you do?"

"That?" I crowed maliciously. "That is the sound of the world changing. That is the seismic shifting as all over the Earth the leyline redirection devices I had my girls place at specific points, shift the fucking magical VEINS of this whole planet into a karmic weaving designed to merge the two of us into a singular entity, with me in charge."

I grinned up at Ophidian like a maniac. "Thanks for eating so much of me, by the way. I figured out that very similar beings are easier to combine during my research. That bite you took is going to really lower the bar. Round two motherfucker. And I'm all out of bubblegum."

Reaching out with my karmic powers, I felt the momentum of the shifting leylines as they slowly assumed their proper places. Too slowly, but that was fine. The devices Zee had designed had injected my power into the leylines as it redirected them, giving me something to latch onto.

I reached out and grabbed the leylines, essentially giant threads of moving superconcentrated energy, and began to weave them. As I did, I felt the power thrum through me as Eath, the third planet from the star Sol, granted me its strength to drive away the hungry invader that descended upon it. I'd need a bit to finish the working, and until then, I was going to use the excess to empower my draconic body and slap that obnoxious orange fucker around like he owed me money. Time to make those snakeskin boots.

July 11th 2016 Abandoned Field, American Midwest, 11:30 P.M EDT

Ophidian, contrary to his brutal and animalistic image, was not stupid. He felt the power around us, felt the changes in earth's magical landscape, and he did what any semi-competent universal entity would do. He tried to nope the fuck out.

Sadly for him, rearing back away from the magic pulled him further away from the ground, and that was exactly what I'd been HOPING that scaly asshole would do. With a triumphant roar, I beat my wings once, following him up into the sky, transforming as I did to my full one hundred thousand foot glory.

Ophidian, realizing he wasn't getting out of this, hissed and struck, trying to tear into me with phantasmal orange fangs, but I was already moving myself. I sunk my own teeth into his body partway up the neck and clamped down, forelegs digging into him as I savaged his neck, nearly high on the energy flowing into me.

Unlike earlier, when I was just drinking Ophidian's essence down and holding it (in preparation for him retaking it to create this exact situation) this energy was circulating through me like a live current.

Monstrous amounts of magical force of a million types were flowing into me, and my cells drank them up as I burned them to keep up both my weaving and my battle. I was walking the knife's edge here, and I couldn't have been more thrilled.

I'll admit. It hurt. It hurt more than almost anything I'd ever been through, my veins were boiling, my eyeballs felt like eggs in a frying pan, even my fucking gums were burning up, but I didn't blink. I poured all that hate and rage glee into savaging the orange garden snake in front of me, getting my mongoose on in the most brutal way imaginable.

Ophidian was stronger than I was. That wasn't in question. He was ALSO bleeding energy from multiple incredibly damaging wounds, while I was on the energy equivalent of nitrous. Not to mention the weave I was making was starting to mobilize his own energy against him, and he couldn't seem to stop it.

I felt him try to consume, to gobble up any of the ambient energy around, but the leylines were supercharging everything about me, and while NORMAL Nicky might not be able to out gobble the snake, supercharged Nitro Nicky was a world champion eater.

The energy around us was being sucked up and burned to fuel my weaving, and his pull wasn't as strong as mine so he wasn't able to get any of it. That was why I'd focused on devouring, because Ophidian was the biggest eater in the universe. He'd have sucked the whole working dry if I hadn't beat him to it.

However, since I was using the leylines in an active working (grabbing and moving them mentally, even with the help of the devices, was nightmarishly hard, but I was doing it) he couldn't touch those either.

On the physical front, I was fucking crushing him. Dragons were peak existences in terms of physical might, and while the System might not be able to elevate me to his level energy wise (or even close really) my foundation was still there, and without the ability to drink the life out of me he was having some real problems keeping up.

He tore himself free of my jaws with a roar of defiant rage, and below me I could hear Crassus, his mouthpiece, screaming shrilly. "Stop it! Cease that right this moment! You are an ant! A flea! A biting nat! Know your plaaace!"

Something along those lines, but I ignored him. My mind was taken up trading blows with Ophidian (who had gone on the offensive) and weaving the leylines. Ophidian was rearing and striking almost too fast to see, but I was IN the karma, and I was stronger even if he was so light that his speed made me dizzy (fucking energy constructs). I was able to counter his movements by brute force, weaving and dodging as I tore chunks out of him.

Keeping up the karmic working as we fought was taxing, and honestly I wouldn't have been able to before S rank, but I was doing it, and it was working. I felt a hundred leylines curving into place, and hauled and strained to twist them around each other, forming the noose I would slip around Ophidian's scaly neck.

We were miles in the air, our sheer size so momentous I doubted anyone could help but look at us. The storm of power and violence crackling around us was too dense for help to get through, and that was what I wanted. No interference, no aid. Just a grudge match with this orange dick that tried to take over my life.

Because I was OFFENDED. When my mother tried it, I'd been annoyed, but the situation had been within my control. But this asshole had made me feel FEAR. Had made me feel helpless, and I HATED him for that.

His jaws caught me at the hinge of my wings, and I redirected a slight flow of life attributed magic from a leyline to heal it as I returned the bite, driving my fangs into a burning orange eye.

Ophidian was a hard light construct, an emotional being not on the same spectrum as solid life, but I was the Devouring Dragon God. Being able to interface with energy was kind of a must for someone like me.

I felt the leylines begin to approach the right configuration, and I groaned as I forced them to move faster. Ophidian was struggling, trying to resist, but karma wasn't really his wheelhouse. Too ephemeral. Just what I'd been counting on all those months ago when I first started to form this plan.
Grabbing his own karmic threads, I wove them deftly into the working, twining them with the leylines, marveling at how fucking MANY there were and how thick. Some of them were almost as big and dense as the leylines themselves. Almost.

As I did, I felt his power begin to seep out. Not into me, but into the leylines themselves, feeding back into the working and equalizing us as the leylines replenished my energy and not his. It was slow and agonizing, but bit by bit he and I started to level off.

Before my eyes, Ophidian began to shrink, and as he did he roared with hate and redoubled his attacks. Even with less physical strength, his nearly weightless body was a formidable weapon, and I lost my physical advantage as he unleashed everything he had in one last desperate gamble.

I almost lost entirely, almost succumbed to the attacks, because the working had gained momentum. It was a tsunami running through me and I had no control, no grasp on the energy. I had no power of my own because the merge was sucking it all up in its wake.

And then…I felt power. Lots of it. Not like…as much as I had, but enough to let me push him back. Power from a Deva who stood at the pinnacle of the universe. Power from an Archon who embodied magic itself. My girls reached through their bonds to me, bonds that Ophidian couldn't touch because that wasn't how the System worked, and poured in their strength.

I would have been able to hold out without the boost, but it would have been rough, and I wasn't going to turn down a free lunch. I didn't want any aid against Ophidian, but the girls didn't count. They were MINE.

Finally, the ramping energy started to condense, and Ophidian screamed in panic and confusion as his energy was dispersed, explosion outward into a colossal cloud of shimmering light that covered the skies. I didn't mind as much, I knew the drill. I'd been merged plenty of times, and I just let myself dissolve into light.

The power twined us together, earth itself acting as a focus, as one big ritual, every drop of magic flowing through the planet focused on the sole task of combining two things that were once separate. I felt the hunger, felt the need and the want, but I shaped it, changed it as it entered me.

Merges followed the wishes of the initiator, and that was me, and I didn't want to turn into some hollow hungering thing. In fact, I didn't want to turn into a thing at all. I decided to focus on refining who and what I was. I was a god now, and I wanted to double down. I'd stay a dragon, obviously, but that wouldn't define me.

I wanted power over a fundamental aspect of reality like Ophidian had, but on my own terms. I was going to reign supreme over this world, take whatever I wanted, and protect what was mine. The energy was shaped by that, by my intent and desires, and as I coalesced back into a physical form, I felt that resonate through me.

I returned to solidity in my normal mortal body, not my dragon form, floating above the planet in a massive empty space that was shockingly quiet and still. I glanced down, surprised to see Crassus down there, glaring up at me hatefully. I supposed since Ophidian's power still existed in the form of me he remained.

With a though, I was in front of him, eating the distance like it was a piece of chocolate cake, not even needing to move. I was beyond such petty things now. "Hey gramps." I said to my distant ancestor.

"What have you done?" He whispered. "Ophidian is a fundamental force. He's one of the seven entities of the emotional spectrum that anchors the entire multiverse. How did you do that? What will happen? With him gone-"

I laughed. "He's not gone." I said with a grin. "He's right here. Inside me. I mean, technically. His consciousness was snuffed out like a candle in a rainstorm." I patted my stomach and burped, and he flinched. "Anyway, no need for you to exist anymore. You're my power, skulking around outside me, and that's not gonna fly."

"Wait! I can-" I just inhaled gently and he exploded into orange light, rushing down my throat and vanishing into the endless well of strength I had now.

Speaking of which, I wanted to know how that had gone. The System was gone now, never designed to work at scales like I was dealing with, but I was the sole inheritor of Ophidian's power. I saw how he'd made it, and was able to cobble together my own version of the appraisal Skill. It was too useful to give up.

As for merging…I didn't need points anymore. I had all the power I could ever want. I could merge anything I liked. I was getting distracted. My senses were much more profound now, in ways I couldn't yet process, and it was really throwing me off. I forced my will to beat my brain into submission, focusing on what I wanted, and then I looked down and appraised myself.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Nicholas Lord- EX rank: Greed God]

I grinned at the new designation. The rank was cool, I supposed that came after S. I hadn't really been sure what that would say, but I didn't mind it. And past that…I couldn't help but laugh. It might seem underwhelming to some people, but in my mind, being the sole god of a force as singular as Greed fit me to a T.

I'd taken my place among the pantheon of the emotional spectrum, and now I was a being beyond mortal comprehension, but I was still me. I turned, and I was standing in front of Zee, halfway around the world, and then the world shifted again, and again, and again. I picked up all my girls, and then we were sitting in the living room of our house, and my wife threw herself on me sobbing in relief, and I smiled. Today was the first day of the rest of my life. Look out world.

August 11th 2016 Hall of Nevers, Brightedge City, 11:30 A.M EDT

I sat on the couch in my living room, enjoying my relaxation as my girls bustled around. Whisper was next to me, our daughter in her lap, and she looked amused as the others shot me pointed glares that I ignored. Dinah finally stopped in front of me, hands on her hips. "Can you HELP please?"

"Sorry." I said with a shrug. "Can't do it." I paused. "Wait. That's the wrong word. What's the other one? Right. Won't. I won't do it."

She groaned in frustration, throwing her hands in the air. "We have to pack for about twenty people. Everyone is coming with us because after our visit to Gemworld we're stopping in to see your brother and his family. You're pretty much OMNIPOTENT now. Would it kill you to get off your ass and help load the car so we can take everything to the ship."

"It might." I claimed loftily. "Why risk it. Besides, you should be nicer to me. I just saved the world."

Narrowing her eyes, she said acidly. "You also almost ENDED it, just so you could get more powerful. Cleaning up your own mess isn't impressive, it's LITERALLY the least you could possibly do."

"Just give up." Said Barbie with a giggle as she walked over and plopped down onto the couch. "You know he never does anything he doesn't want to do. Besides, most of us are gods. We can carry some bags. Hell, we could just have Rae teleport them there. I still don't know why you insist on doing it the slow way."

Dinah sighed. "Because if we always use our powers to handwave every problem, our children will grow up spoiled and entitled like their father." She shit me a smirk before turning to coo at my infant daughter, snuggled up in Whisper's lap. "Isn't that right Vivian? We need to teach you the value of hard work, don't we?"

"Hard work has no value." I denied. "It's gross. Don't infect my kids with your heroic worldview. That's why I won't help you load the car. I too am standing on principle."

Barbie giggle. "Demonstrating the power of laziness and hedonism. How noble."

"Worked for me." I said with a wink. "After all, I impressed a certain feisty redhead enough to let me put a baby in her." She blushed, hand falling to her stomach. My tenth kid was now growing in there, and I felt a lot better about that. Nine was such an unwieldy number.

My wife stormed into the room, looking annoyed. "Why are you all sitting around with him? I expect this kind of nonsense from Nicky, but I thought you and Barbara had better sense than that, Dinah."
I burst out into spiteful laughter as my two girls erupted in offended defenses of their current actions. Reaching down, I plucked up my daughter. "Alright Viv, lets leave the nerds to do logistics. We're blowing this pop stand. My daughter, eyes shimmering like iridescent pennies, giggled softly and then burped, a small rainbow coming out of her mouth. "Well said." I nodded. "Sindella, I'm heading over to the ship early with your sister, you coming?" I called to my eldest daughter.

My oldest flitted into the room on gossamer wings, blurring up to full size excitedly. "Of course!" She cheered. "Auntie Ariel said she'd teach me how to open ocean portals like she does."

"She most certainly will not!" Said Zee, entering the room at a stalk, she tossed Dinah a heavy looking bag (for a normal person) and my canary caught it effortlessly. "Take that out for me while I explain to my daughter why opening interdimensional portals is not a Skill for a child." She glared at me. "This is your fault, take the baby and go already!"

I chuckled, winking at Sindella, who giggled softly before resuming her pout when her vengeful mother refocused on her. Without much effort, I reached out and ate the space between me and the Jolly Roger. I looked down at the baby. "All of your aunts are crazy." I told her helpfully. "Stick with me kid, I'm the only sane person in this bunch."

"That's just…clinically false." Said the amused voice of Ingrid. I turned to find my therapist laid out on the deck of the ship in a blue and white bikini, Elsa and Ruby next to her, all three of them sipping fruity drinks as they sunbathed.

I raised a brow at them. "Why the hell did I spend the morning watching Amy have a panic attack when I could have been here enjoying THIS view."

Elsa giggled. "Because Amy is your favorite, even if you don't admit it. It's why we're making this trip." Her eyes narrowed. "At least one of the reasons, we ARE going to stop and see my sister when we're visiting your brother, right?"

"Probably before that, honestly." I said with a laugh. "We can't take the Roger to Storybrooke, you know how Killian gets about Rumple."

My favorite privateer WOULD have made the trip if I asked, probably, but he'd have been mooning over Emma the whole time and that seemed like a lose lose. Then again, maybe not. My three girls weren't the only ones on the ship. Mandy the former nun was bustling about in a pirate style dress that did her generous body wonders, and shooting shy looks at the dashing captain.

Jinx, who had ALSO come alone was eyeing him much more blatantly, while Thorn was feasting her eyes on me from where she was sunbathing on the other side of the deck. I winked at her, bringing the baby up to the foredeck and coming to a stop in front of the wheel. "Permission to come aboard, captain?" I said gruffly, snapping off a salute.
"Traditionally, one asks that BEFORE boarding, mate." He said wryly. "But granted, and at ease."

I grinned. "Oh Captain my Captain. Where's ariel, by the way, I assumed she'd be lying out with the girls. Or swarming me to play with Vivi. You know how she gets about kids. She adores the babies."

"Aye." He said with a laugh. "Though in her defense, they're adorable little buggers. Ariel is out swimming, she wanted to stretch her fins before we left."

Vivian giggled, waving at him happily and I laughed. "Well warn her to stay out of Zee's way. She didn't appreciate finding out Sindella had been offered portal lessons. I hear kids learning to walk can be tough, I can't imagine transdimensional portals would be better." Sindella had skipped the walking phase and Max and Vivi weren't there yet, but I was told it was terrible.

He winced. "I'll pass it on. I don't think I'd want miss Zee mad at me. She seems like the type who can really make you suffer."

"Probably." I said with a shrug. "None of my girls are like that with me. I think Cherry would probably be the dumbest person in my household to offend. Zee is bound to get annoyed, but she's distractible. Plus Ariel is basically the person equivalent of a fluffy kitten. You can't stay mad at her for long."

I glanced out across the sea. "You ready to head back to Gemworld again? How have those supply runs been going? I don't keep track of that stuff anymore."

Without needing to use points, micromanaging my interdimensional trade lanes was pointless, I left that shit to Silver, Geri, and Barbie. He gave me a quick rundown of the various gems he'd been shipping over, and how Silver was using her connections to sell them. It was interesting enough, but the details blurred, at least until I heard a car pull up.

An SUV I'd had in the garage at the hall. Everyone piled out, and I saw Waylon and Sally carrying the bags from the car to the ship. Apparently Dinah thought that was enough of a good example.

Amy hopped onto the desk, stretching and groaning in appreciation. "I can't believe we're finally done with that. The Hall is way too big, getting everything together was a nightmare." She glanced at Leslie and Cassie as they darted past. "Sunscreen girls, you don't want to burn." She paused as she strolled over to me. "I wonder what sunburn looks like on blue skin?"

"Purple?" I guessed with a shrug. "You seem like you're in a better mood. Ready for our trip?"

She stepped up to me and snuggled up under my arm cutely. "Sorry, I was just impatient. Plus I'm sad I haven't had the baby yet. I was hoping we could bring her with us to meet my mom." She smiled down at Vivi. "I think she'll be excited to meet this one though. How about you Vivi, are you excited to meet grandma?"

As my wife, Amy claimed all my kids, not just the one she was carrying. I thought that would get confusing when her twin siblings and cousin were born, but it was her prerogative. My youngest burped happily, letting out another rainbow of magical energy.

"You two having fun without us?" Asked Barbie when she hopped up over the railing. Donna, Cherry, Sindara, Silver, and Jenny all boarded behind her, with more besides. All my girls were coming along, barring Strega, who was minding Shadowcrest for Zee. It was going to be a crowded journey even on a ship this big.

Before I could answer, I was cut off by a pair of booms as two forms split the sound barrier. Kara and Mary landing on the deck as Raven stepped from the shadows of her soul self. "Are we late?" Said Kara anxiously. Her own baby wasn't showing yet after just over a month, so her body was still as slim and toned as ever.

"We're obviously fine." Said Mary with an eye roll. "They're just getting here." She whistled at everyone boarding. "Dear God, how many girls are you fucking Nicky?"

I glanced around. "This is most of them." I said with a shrug. "Not all of them, but most of them. Kara, Cassie is over there with Leslie, you should go say hi." My kryptonian brightened at seeing her friend and dragged Mary over. I turned to Amy. "We forgetting anything? Because we're not coming back for a while."

She waved me off. "No, we double checked. Let's just go!" She was practically vibrating with excitement.

"Fine, fine." I said with a laugh. "Ariel!" I called down to the mermaid, who had climbed aboard and was being berated by my archon and Tink for agreeing to teach our daughter how to flee to another dimension when she was in trouble. She perked up at my voice. "It's about time to go, you ready to open our door?"

She nodded happily. "Of course! I've been to Gemworld a bunch of times with Killian! Count on me!"

Darting away from a still annoyed Zee, she went over the side of the ship, knifing into the water like a professional diver. Within moments, the portal opened in front of the ship. Vivi, who was still on my hip, was clapping happily at the sight, while Max, who was being carried by Dinah, looked on serenely.

Sindella was holding Zee's hand as her mother told her not to try to dive into the water and stay on the ship, having to actually pull back pretty hard when she sprouted wings and started to pull. She dropped back down at a sharp word.
Laughing, I enjoyed the smooth glide of the ship toward the portal. My life was…hectic, but still a lot of fun. I did what I wanted when I wanted to do it. Even moreso now. Pretty much nothing had the juice to hurt me, barring a few very powerful entities I'd run across (apparently Lucifer owned a club in LA, pretty cool dude) and I could protect all my girls easily enough. All in all, things were pretty great. Kind of boring though, hopefully someone tried to kill me in Gemworld.

August 11th 2016 Lord City, Gemworld, 1:30 P.M EDT

We broke through the water like a surfacing submarine, and everyone was thrilled to be out of the portal. Ariel had made this trip dozens of times, so it was a pretty quick one, but Gemworld was still another dimension so not too quick.

Amy, who was beaming and cuddled up under my arm opposite Vivi, took a deep breath and let out a happy sigh. "Home." She said joyfully. "It's so nice to be back. Hildie, you're planning to go visit your parents, right?" She turned to the blonde bombshell of a maid I'd picked up in Gemworld on my first visit.

Hildie blushed, nodding bashfully. "Yes, my lady." She said shyly. "I haven't seen my parents in some time. Mistress Barbara said that I've been doing a good job and could stop by to pay my respects."

"Of course." Said Amy kindly. "We can pick you up on the way out. Isn't that right Nicky?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Did they INSTALL a harbor here?" I said in confusion. "Because I feel like I'd remember a harbor next to my town."

"Yes dear, ages ago. Keep up." She patted me on the cheek condescendingly, but her moment was spoiled by the tight slap I landed on her soft ass. She pouted, but didn't say anything as she stalked away to get everyone ready.

Laughing, I stepped up onto the railing of the ship and then off the side. There was a blink and I appeared on the beach, having consumed the intervening space. Greed based teleportation was one of my favorite new tricks. I'd also been dying to test out my new dragon form, but it was too big to fit on earth without wrecking something.

Waiting on the shore was a familiar tanned form with dark hair. "Levka." I said with a grin. "How's my favorite lifestorm gemsmith? Your powers been treating you well? How's that foxy wife of yours?"

His eye twitched slightly, but he brushed the comment off. "I'm well, my Lord. The city has grown enormously. Are you here to retake a leadership position?" I could tell he wasn't enthused by the idea, which was fair, I'd already fucked his daughter and turned her into a bisexual sex maid, it was doubtful with my personality I'd let his wife off if she got interested.

"No, just visiting the inlaws." I assured him with a chuckle. "You're doing a good job running things. I've heard Lord City has become quite the hub of industry."

I had heard that, I sisn't CARE much (anything besides people was pretty much irrelevant to me treasure wise, sadly, since I could basically create shit from thin air with my powers by merging with no cost) but it was nice to know my city was doing well, and it helped pay into Amethyst country, where my baby mamas ruled the roost.

He cleared his throat. "Well, thank you, my lord, that's kind of you to say. You left us quite a foundation, and this new trade route has been an excellent boon to our expansion. All sorts of fascinating devices have been shipped over by your representative. In fact, I've recently been experimenting with a handheld game system. It's a complex but rewarding challenge."

I laughed at that. Apparently the trading with Gemworld was more comprehensive than I'd expected. I wondered what they'd sent, that could work without any sort of infrastructure. Game systems would be fine, I was sure it would be easy enough to rig up a solar generator or something, hell, you could probably hybridize it with some sunstone or something.

Cell phones would be out for now without a signal, though Silver, Geri, and Barbie were likely working on something.

It didn't take long to get everyone loaded off the ship, and Levka sent for a bunch of carriages to take us to the capital. Hildie stayed behind to visit with her folks, but everyone else came alone, and more than a dozen people was enough to require four of the damned things.

I was in a carriage with Dinah, Zee, Max, Sindella, Barbie, and Amy. "Hey pumpkin." I said to my daughter. "What do you think of Gemworld? It's your first time, right?"

She blinked, looking up from some weird magic project of making a flower out of sparks she was shooting from her fingertips. "It's really nice here." She beamed. "There's so much magic around, it's like standing in the sun!"

Raising a brow, I glanced at Zee. "She's absorbing lots of energy, she's still growing, as you know, and giving birth to a universe takes a lot of power as you may remember. Higher ambient magic speeds up the process. I'm kind of interested to see what happens when we visit your brother and his family."

Storybrooke's magic was kind of hit or miss, but when it was on it was dense as hell. I had to admit I was interested too.

We arrived at the capital, and we all hopped out. Some of the servants took most of the girls to their rooms while Amy and I took Dinah, Zee, Max, Vivi, Sindella, and Whisper to see the Queen.

"This place is gorgeous." Commented Dinah from where she walked with Max on her hip. "We should upgrade the Hall again."

"Not a bad idea." I said thoughtfully. "No limits at this point, we could do something really fun with it. Maybe a floating island? Or a floating continent? I'll get back to you about that, I'm sure I'll think of something."

We arrived at the throneroom to a fanfare, and Gracie, who was waiting for us by the door, threw herself at me. I laughed, catching her easily, then looked down at her stomach. "Damn, you're really showing, huh? Are you bigger than Mordiel?"

My other royal baby mama, who was sitting nearby, pouted and didn't deign to respond, but Gracie giggled. "Of course. I'm having twins, remember?"

Laughing, she brought all of us through the throne room and up into the receiving room where I'd met with her before the Opal mess. We all sat down for a nice spread of roasted chicken, veggies, and… I sipped the wine.

"Did you make this from the berries in my orchard?" I said with surprise. "It's fantastic."

Gracie nodded. "Oh of course, Lord City is famous for its berries. The crops aren't easy to get considering their relative size, but they make excellent wine." She pouted. "Not that I can drink it. I have our chefs prepare a juice from the berries whenever we get them, however, and that's much more palatable for the baby."

It was easy to forget Amy was from earth, and that Gracie knew some things about that, until I heard stuff like that. Not that I was worried, I doubted a bit of booze could damage a baby who was half dragon god. But still, it was nice to know she was taking care.

Enjoying the dinner, I was so caught up in things that I almost didn't notice when someone waved at me from out in the hall.

No one else seemed to see her, but to my shock, a gorgeous goth girl with an ankh around her neck was standing cheerfully outside, looking at me. I excused myself, claiming I had to get something, and then stepped out into the hall.

"Nicholas Lord." Said the girl with a kind smile. "How interesting to meet you again." I raised a brow, then my eyes unfocused as I appraised her.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Death of the Endless- EX ranked conceptual being.]

That was it. No more info. Which was odd. My domain was consumption and greed, taking information with my glance was one of my more powerful abilities. She just smiled at me serenly.

"Death, huh?" I said cautiously. "I'm not sure I want to be on your to-do list."
She giggled. "Bet its the first time you've ever said THAT to a pretty girl." She winked. "But I'm not here to kill you or anything. I wanted to meet you. Not many people reach our tier of power. As far as I know, it's mostly just me, my siblings, a few of the archangels, and some of the stronger Lords of Chaos and Order. Well, and the Hands, but that's a lot to get into."

"So you're inviting me to your special clubhouse?" I asked dryly. "Because I'll be honest, it seems shady."

She shrugged. "More that we have an opportunity, through you, to perhaps bring some order to part of the emotional spectrum. If you're interested. Working with the Entities is pretty much impossible, because they're so defined by their natures. And the vessels they use can't really control them. You're…unique."

"That's a lot of vagary for a job offer." I said bluntly. "I don't take gigs where I don't know what you want, or ones where I don't get paid. That should be obvious."

She nodded casually. "Oh, I assumed. I've prepared a generous compensation for you, should decide to accept it. As for the details of the job…well now isn't the time. Suffice to say it's something you're uniquely suited for, and something I suspect will benefit you all on its own."

"And the compensation you're offering?" I said, impatient to get back to my dinner. If she would just hurry up I could shoot her down and go eat.

That got a small smile. "Immunity." She said bluntly. "For your children and women."

"Immunity from…" I asked slowly. From the outside that seemed like a threat maybe, but the tone was wrong, and given who this was delivering the offer I had a sneaking suspicion."

"Me." She said with confident smile. "Your women won't age or die, not even the mortal ones. Your children will grow to maturity and stop, though I can't extend the offer to more than the ten extant babies. You'll need to figure out something else for any future offspring. This is a once in a lifetime offer, even for something that will live as long as you, Nick. They won't die, even if someone tries to murder them."

That was… a fantastic deal. And enough for me to hear her out. "I'll listen to your request, but no promises. I'm not stupid enough to take a job on commission without hearing the details. I'm on vacation visiting my family for the next few days, I'll meet at midnight on the thirteenth to discuss. Agreed?"

Beaming, she nodded at me happily. "I knew you would make the right choice." She turned to walk a way, and my eyes trailed down to the generous rump filling out her black destressed jeans. She stopped, looking over her shoulder. "Oh and Nicky? If I had a to-do list? You would definitely be at the top." Then she winked at me and vanished.

Huh, I'd just been hit on by the Grim Reaper. Well, I had always liked goth girls. Plus Death had some junk in the trunk.

I considered the offer, and the job itself, and wondered what it could be that would require someone like Death to find someone like me. The reward was too good to pass up though, real immortality for my girls. I could go GET their souls if they died of course, but it would be a whole thing, especially if one of them ended up in heaven.

This would be much easier. Besides, I believed her about the job she was proposing being beneficial for me. I wasn't sure why. From the brief impression I'd gotten of her, I could tell that while Death did a lot of scary things, she didn't lie. She didn't have to. Death took what she wanted, and nothing could stop her. Maybe my appraisal had picked up more than I'd thought. In any case I had a dinner to get back to, and then possibly a mother daughter threesome to repeat. Just another casual night with the family.

August 13th 2016 Storybrooke, Maine, 7:30 P.M EDT

We surfaced from the harbor the same way as we had in Gemworld, though everyone was a bit more used to it. The ship groaned a bit under our feet though. I'd merged this one with some deepvein titanbone I'd dug up from Lord City, but it wasn't the Jolly Roger. This particular ship was only D rank and the journey had been rough on it.

"We're home!" Squealed Ruby, hopping up onto the mast and climbing nimbly up into the crows nest. "I can see all of Storybrooke, look, there's the diner! And the bed and breakfast! And I see the clocktower, oh Nicky everything looks exactly the same!"

I laughed at her enthusiasm as the other girls all crowded around the railing to try to see, since there wasn't room for more than one person up top. "Of course it's the same!" I shouted up to her. "We've been gone for like a few months, tops. Feels longer though, I know. You planning to come down so we can go into town? I want to go visit everyone before they notice us."

"Bit late for that." Drawled a sardonic voice from the dockside. I turned, seeing a familiar blonde in a red leather jacket standing expectantly on the edge of the pier. Next to her were a pentet of familiar faces. Both Charmings, my nephew, my grand nephew, and my brother.

I glared at Rumple. "You told!" I accused him belligerently. "How is a man supposed to surprise his extended family with shady old busybodies ruining his big moment."

"Aye." He said with a grin. "I set up several alarms in case of interdimensional visitors. Our last few were very dramatic. If it had been you coming yourself I doubt I'd have noticed, but your little mermaid is far less subtle than you are, little brother."

I shrugged. "You don't use a flamethrower to swat a fly." I blinked, and all of us were standing behind them, bags stacked neatly to one side. Dinah pouted a bit, but I ignored her, I was trying to make a point. "Good to see you too, Rumple. Snow, Charming." I grinned at my grand nephew. "Henry, how are things?"

They all jumped and spun as we reappeared, I'd left behind illusions of us that faded when I spoke, just for effect.

Laughing, Henry barreled forward, grabbing me in a tight hug. "Uncle Nick!' I laughed, ruffling his hair.

"Hey kid, you're getting big." I heald a hand up to head height. "Not taller, just big. Maybe you should lay off the hot chocolate." I winked at the outraged teenager, then gestured behind me. "Oh, right. Henry these are you Aunts." I pointed at my wife. "That's Amy, we're married, Dinah and Whisper are the mothers of my brats, Vivi and Max, and of course you remember Zee, and this our daughter Sindella. Don't ask how she's five when she wasn't born when we left, it's a long story."

Snow, who was watching us, looked torn between amusement and disapproval. "Well, you mentioned you had a lot of love in your life, and you certainly didn't undersell." She smiled warmly at the girls. "It's nice to meet you all. Nicky is family, which makes you family too. Welcome."

The girls all basically melted under the warmth of someone even I had trouble disliking, and I smiled as Snow whisked most of them away with her, presumably to Granny's. Charming stepped up next to me as we watched them go. "I have no clue how you manage that many women." Admitted the adventurer prince. "I love Snow more than anything, but even if I was interested in more I don't think I could keep up."

I clapped him on the shoulder. "And that, David, is why I'm a god. So how have things been around here? Crazy as ever?" I saw Emma talking to my sister Emma and smiled, I'd already told my sister not to mention us fucking, and other than that I thought they'd get along well.

"You know it." He laughed wryly. "Are you staying long? We'd love to have you over for dinner." He glanced ahead at the crowd. "Actually I think we might need to do a party at Granny's Diner. No way we fit all of us in the apartment. Plus I'm sure you'll want to invite Belle. She and Rumple have been coming around to see Henry. He's even been working part time in Rumple's shop. I'm not sure what you did to him…"

I shrugged. "Made it easier not to give into temptation. But yeah, I'd love to stay for dinner. I have a meeting in town at midnight, but I'm free until then." I saw him hesitate, clearly curious how I had a meeting when I came from another reality. I didn't elaborate and he didn't ask.

Death shouldn't have a problem getting here. Based on my own perception of things, EX ranked meant multiversal. I could have made this trip myself easily enough, and Death would definitely be able to do the same. Chuckling, I followed behind the girls, Henry and Rumple hanging back after my grand nephew got away from all the hugs and doting.

We chatted about his high school, about girls (he was seeing some girl named Violet and wanted advice, Amy told him not to listen to a word I said which seemed rude) and about life in Storybrooke.

Snow called everyone together at Granny's, and I saw some of the people I'd met last time I was here. They seemed happy to see me, accepting me as a member of the royal family, which felt weird, but not bad. We ate, drank, and made merry, just generally enjoying ourselves. Ruby was thrilled to be back and she was regaling Belle with tales of our adventures in Neverland and my fight with Ophidian, which she could see along with everyone else in the Western Hemisphere. I barely had to try to slip out at midnight, lost in the crowd

Death was easy enough to find. She was waiting for me down the street from the Diner, sitting on the hood of Emma's beat up yellow bug. "Nice people." She said as a greeting as I sat down next to her.

"My family." I said probingly, wanting to know if they were covered under the deal.

She laughed. "That's a bit of a stretch. The Charmings and Emma through Henry, I suppose. And Rumple himself. I assume you don't want your mother to be immortal."

"Gods no." I laughed. "Her you can have, whenever she gets around to kicking the bucket."

Nodding pleasantly, she stared off into the skies. "I envy you this, you know? Your mortal origin, Your selfishness. I can never have all this. And no, that's not me inviting you to try and impregnate me." She said quickly, cutting off the very same joke from me. "Just saying you should cherish it."

"I'm surprised you'd make a deal like this." I admitted. "Death offering not to kill people. Seems a bit oxymoronic."

"What did you just call me?" She said in mock offense. "But you aren't wrong. The thing is, there are more souls in the balance than the ones in your orbit. All told I'm offering a stay of execution on a hundred here. Someday they'll want to move on, and I'll allow it. Until then, a year or an eon, it's all the same to me. But the task I have for you…many more hang in the balance."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "In case you missed the memo, I'm not exactly the saving type. Sure I saved the world, but that was pretty much incidental. I'm not going to stand against the forces of darkness and play the hero. You can pay me to save some people, but if I'm going to be doing something thankless for eternity I'll just figure out how to keep my girls alive on my own."

"Nothing like that." She laughed. "I told you, you'll benefit from this particular task. It's right up your alley, and you might be the only one who can do it. Ophidian, as I'm sure you're aware, was nowhere near your level of power. You're more like one of us than an entity. My siblings and I exist in more than one universe at a time."

I frowned at her. "I was wondering about that. I thought the entities represented the emotional spectrum, Crassus was shouting about that being a cornerstone of the multiverse. How come Ophidian was only universal?"

"Each world has its own emotional entities." She shrugged. "The forces are multiversal, but the entities aren't the forces, more like receptacles for their presence in any given universe. That leads into my request nicely, however. What do you know about the multiverse as a whole and how it works?"

Gesturing around us, I laughed. "I know there are other worlds, since we're in one. The one we come from seems to be more important somehow, because a lot of multiversal creatures spend time there. That might be bias though, it's possible you all just have multiple bodies or something."

"We do when necessary." She admitted. "You could too I suspect. Maybe something to look into. But yes, there are many worlds. However not all worlds are created equal. Some of them are older, and much like humans, worlds can die. A mechanism was set up to dispose of those worlds, a creature that was made to consume that which was dead."

That made me blink. "You guys made a world eater? That seems a bit dark for you based on the vibe I'm getting."

"It is necessary." She said firmly. "Dead worlds sicken and decay, the people on them suffer more than you can imagine. Disposing of dead worlds is a mercy to the occupants, and their souls are added back into the cycle of reincarnation. By me."

I motioned for her to hurry it up. "And I take it that hasn't been happening for some reason?"

"It hasn't." She agreed. "For a very long time. When worlds decay, they no longer get recycled. The beast that was meant to consume them abandoned his purpose and killed his master. He retreated from the multiverse, past the edge of our domain, and he took the dead worlds with him. Even now he snatches them from the edge of creation adding to his diseased parody of a multiverse."

"That sounds like a shitty place to live." I observed dryly.

She chuckled. "Your gift for understatement is impressive. Yes, it is. This being, the dragon, was originally part of the ecosystem of reality, but now he holds the souls of trillions hostage."

"And you want me to take care of him?" I asked knowingly.

That got another chuckle. "No, Nicky. We want you to take OVER for him. To replace one dragon of consumption with another. We want you to swallow the worlds of the dark multiverse and send those souls onto their eternal rest with me." She grinned wolfishly. "So what do you say? Want to be a world eater?"

My laughter boomed out across the night as my eyes lit with the fire of excitement. "You know, I was figuring you were going to ask me to do something annoying and time consuming. But eating a bunch of universes…that sounds like a lot of fun." I'd grow stronger from that too, even if it would be a drop in the bucket at this point. She was right, I was interested. I held out my hand. "You've got yourself a deal."

She shook, and I felt the world around us shift slightly as something powerful and beyond mortal comprehension clicked back into place. I hadn't even noticed it wasn't working, but my EX ranked senses could detect it now that it was fixed. Apparently the universe had been waiting for this. "Pleasure to be working with you." Death said grimly. "Here's hoping for a long and fruitful partnership." I hoped for the same. Plus I was totally going to fuck her eventually. It was good to be me.

AN:/ Well, thats all folks. After two years and nearly 900k words, Greed God has reached the end. My new story, A Novel Approach, is already up on Pat-reon. It'll probably be a few weeks before it hits FF though it'll be on QQ next friday. In the meantime, Shout at the Devil will continue its regular posting schedule for those enjoying that one. I hope everyone enjoyed Greed God as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I look forward to seeing you all on future stories.