"The Sultana is going to flay me for this."
Gactha delivered the comment in such a deadpan manner that a human might have thought she was being sarcastic or exaggerating.
The Eldritch Goddesses knew she was not.
"No, she won't," Yad assured, casually cutting down zombies as easily as she walked. "Unless you are a masochist, but you'd need to speak to your master on that."
Gactha hummed, moving with the grace of a shade and a broken doll all at once as she ended the undead limb from limb with her own limbs.
"Yes, you were keeping watch," Kass agreed with a sigh, zombies dissolving around her as a living purple mist emitted from her hair to attack them. "We were the ones that let Nycrama drag the Kungur into the seal."
Gactha said nothing as they continued the battle, or rather, the pest control session.
"Don't worry so much. Issei likes you and he'll only ever hurt a woman who enjoys pain," Yad remarked.
"Why do you have a masochist fixation right now?" Kass inquired in confusion.
"I don't know, and I'm annoyed to say I'll probably enjoy finding out," Yad remarked mysteriously.
"Hmm? Is Master what mortals would call a sadist?" Gactha inquired.
"I'm less clear on the line between someone who is sadistic and dominant," Kass admitted.
"A sadist doesn't care how the other part feels, besides pain, a dominant does," Yad answered, eyebrow twitching. "Yog is reading something and I have the urge to blame that Akeno."
"Ahh, yes, that one," Kass said with a smile. "Aza is rather fond of her."
"Master is more than merely fond of her, and her orifices."
Meanwhile
Issei found himself in a rather sticky situation.
He grunted, no, growled as his skin burned along his arms and torso. Nycrama's ooze couldn't turn him into a zombie, but it did try to rot through his flesh.
Somewhere in the back of Issei's mind, he knew he should be in agony, that a human would go into shock from this kind of injury.
But, unfortunately for Nycrama, he was far from human anymore. His flesh stitched back together, with red scale-like protrusions forming where the wounds had been.
"Be careful! I'm not sure how "human" that form will be if you damage it too far," Ddraig warned from the gauntlet as Issei landed on one of the various island platforms in this sea of oozing undeath.
And that really, really should be a concern for Issei. He knew it should be.
But the Ire of the Kungur was not so easily put aside.
"What's the matter, Pretender?! Is this already too much for you?!" Nycrama's avatar taunted as he circled Issei like a serpent.
Issei just stared at him, through him, and beyond him.
Nycrama stiffened as he felt that stare from beyond time and space, somehow reaching his true form across the impossible distance. "You...You dare to glare at a true God!? To openly show your ire to your sovereign!? You pathetic upstart, I'll-!"
A dragon shot ripped through the entire form.
Issei hummed and it sounded like a terrible growl, fleshy spikes and scales growing out of his right arm and the right side of his face. He stalked over to the edge of the ooze.
Nycrama's avatar reformed again, looking down at him mockingly. "What do you plan to do, pretender?! You, more mortal than eldritch, couldn't destroy so much of my essence so easily!"
Issei ignored him as he got on one knee and raised up his red gauntlet.
"Awww, coming to swear your loyalty, beg for me-!"
Issei put his hand into the ooze, the green gem shining brightly.
"BOOST!BOOST!BOOST!" Ddraig's voice could be heard echoing from the sacred gear, over and over again.
Nycrama froze, feeling something was wrong, something was different. "What...what did you do to...?!"
"He boosted your connection to this avatar," Ddraig answered as Issei rose, eyes shadowed by his hair.
"Tch. A "heavenly" dragon, cut down by the flocks of the divine and the damned, bound by their terrestrial god," Nycrama mocked. "So what, has the so-called Kungur grown senseless and made my form even stron-?"
Issei swung his hand wide.
Nycrama stopped and gritted his teeth in pain.
"What was...what just...?!" he looked around, first with his real form elsewhere and then with his avatar. Then he saw it. One of his avatar's tentacles had been severed. But he felt it as if it was a real wound.
"Oh, I didn't make you stronger," Issei remarked with a cold smile. "I just made it so that you feel everything that happens to this slime puppet of yours."
Nycrama's eyes widened. "That...that isn't possible, surely! Not for one like-AHHH!"
Nycrama screamed in pain as Issei shot his head off again, making the mass of ooze wither in agony.
"He's not accustomed to pain, I imagine," Ddraig remarked.
"Then let's give him a crash course," Issei said with a toothy smirk as Nycrama rose up again, far more weary and reluctant now.
Elsewhere
Aza shivered.
"Hmm~? I didn't think you'd be interested in this type of thing, Aza," Akeno teased as they looked over a rather...impure magazine.
"Oh, I'm not into femdom. But I do like the outfits, so tight and shiny," Aza answered casually.
"Oh, you can definitely be the one getting dominated in those outfits," Akeno said with a giggle before looking curious. "Though, that raises a question on my part. You told me that you've been following Issei's reincarnation since before humanity."
"Yes, that's right," Aza confirmed with a nod.
"Were any of them a woman?" Akeno asked playfully.
"Not exactly," Aza answered honestly, making Akeno blink. "Most souls will stay the same sex through different lifetimes, assuming their species has them. But two...no, three of Issei's past lives were turned into female forms for a time via magic or curses."
"Huh. I guess after a long enough time, anything happens once," Akeno mused. "So, what were you shivering so pleasantly about? Did Issei do something to tease you across space and time~?"
"Yes! He's future-flashing me!" Aza remarked, glaring over her shoulder with a pout.
"Future flashing?" Akeno asked with a raised eyebrow, very interested in what that meant.
"He is not future flashing you," Yog said as she emerged from the dressing room, wearing an open black hoodie, a white shirt with an infinity sign, thigh-high legging, a modest skirt, a black choker, and her hair in a ponytail. "You do realize I'm probably never going to wear this, right?"
"We'll see! I'm just happy you honored the bet," Akeno said with a smile. "Besides, you need a casual look instead of looking like a ship captain."
"Humans literally perceive me as just a normal girl with normal clothes, what's the point?" Yog asked with a sigh.
"It's your fault for taking a bet. And Akeno did get you to blush fair and square," Aza teased her.
"Allowing you two to meet may have been a mistake," Yog remarked with a deadpan expression as she leaned on the wall. "As for the Future-flashing? Issei is helping himself."
Akeno blinked. "I mean, I can see why Aza would be upset? Him using his hand when she obviously would be more than happy to help with that."
"Not like that," Aza said with a sigh. "Issei's' future selves are helping his current self a little in a fight."
Akeno starred. "Is that...safe? For him? Or the planet?"
"Oh, yeah, it's perfectly fine. They're just giving him nudges and hints, not actually emerging. Even they can't do that," Yog explained.
Aza hummed knowingly to herself while glancing away, getting a narrowed look from Yog.
Akeno cupped her chin. "Not to get too philosophical, but doesn't this mean that time is fixed? That the future is already decided?"
"Not at all," Yog answered. "What happens is up in the air, but Issei existing in his greater forms? That's set in stone. And it's also set in stone that they would know things that he wouldn't yet, regardless of events."
"I see. So it's because Issei is, well, inevitable in a sense," Akeno accepted thoughtfully. "So...why does this bother you, Aza?"
"Do you know how hard it is to not take a sneak peek at how magnificent my beloved will become!?" Aza asked in frustration, looking ready to tear her hair out. Akeno was surprised she didn't, as the hair now looked to be alive and turning into crab pinchers. "I don't want spoilers, I want the surprise! And I want to enjoy Issei as he is! But his future selves are just around the corner of my perception and it's hard not to look! Mmmm!"
Akeno tilted her head and looked at Yog. "Would I even survive-?"
"Mating with Issei in a higher state? Eventually, yes. Granted you might be a bit...remolded by the time he's done with you, in more ways than one," Yog said with a smirk.
"Mmm, now I'm getting excited for Future-Issei," Akeno said with a giggle.
Aza pouted to herself, clearly frustrated with her situation, even as her hair snapped away to demonstrate her mood.
Meanwhile
Kass descended into the prison realm, her nose wrinkling at the smell, diseased boils spreading angrily across her face and neck, before subsiding as she took a deep breath.
"Issei? Kungur? Yad said you're done? Where are you?" she called out, her voice echoing impossibly as she looked across the realm of orange ooze and stone platforms.
No answer came, but she did hear something. The sound of distant thudding. She flew across the area, seeing where the platforms had been partially or utterly destroyed by the battle. She eventually found Issei.
He was sitting on a platform, his arm above his sacred gear covered in spikes and scales. The King of the Eldritch was staring down at a "corpse" that was a smaller replica of Nycrama's form made from his ooze, the entity stabbed with many of the King's spear-like spikes.
She descended down and only now heard the King snarling to himself as he drove his foot into the head of the immobile avatar, which did not lose form.
No, could not lose form, Kass realized.
"Ahh. You stabilized his avatar in this size with your spikes. Impressive," Kass remarked, looking down at Nycrama. The tentacles had long been ripped from his smaller form, and he remained paralyzed, but she could sense he was still connected to this form.
And could still feel everything.
Issei looked at her, and Kass could feel the stare of the Future King of the Eldritch weighing on her.
"Are you finished with him, Kungur? May I end this farce for you?" Kass offered, unbothered by his stare. After all, she wasn't his enemy.
Without looking away, he brought his foot back and kicked Nycrama's worm-like form into the ooze, nodding to Kass.
The Eldritch of Disease walked to the edge and could feel the pained stare of Nycrama through the ooze. She cut her finger with her thumb, holding it out to let a single drop of sluggish violet blood fall.
Nycrama, the very ooze, gave a blood-curdling scream as the droplet spread like a weed of lightning bolts, quickly engulfing the realm and robbing the ooze of its bright hue to be replaced with the shade of Kass's blood.
As the scream ended and the realm grew dark, Kass smiled and turned to him. "Well, we should leave. This realm will collapse soon I imagine."
Issei didn't answer, groaning and holding his head as the eldritch protrusions began to fall from his body, adrenaline, and battle haze draining from his body.
Kass rushed to grab him as he nearly fell backwards. "Kungur, are you alright?" she asked in concern.
Issei took a deep breath. "...I just tortured that asshole," Issei remarked with a far-off expression. "I could have killed him and been done with it myself, let him cut the connection. But after all the shit he kept saying about taking Aza, I wanted to drive the message home."
"And that bothers you?" Kass asked curiously.
"A bit? Or, well, I'm bothered by how little it bothers me," Issei said thoughtfully. "I mean, I knew the prick was deluded as hell. I know Aza wouldn't leave me, so why the hell did I let it get to me?"
"Aza would be offended by the idea of her being in love with anyone besides you. It is an affront to her very nature by her own words," Kass assured. "She would have done far worse to him."
"I know. I'm...fuck, Kass, I'm still human, okay? Killing people I can get over, but torturing somebody is a bit much for me still," he said with a sigh. "I've been spending a lot of time doing King-stuff. Maybe I should take a break and just pretend to be normal for a week."
"Yes, a normal person at your age and in your situation would normally be married to someone like Aza," Kass remarked with a giggle.
"Don't mock me," Issei waved off but smiled all the same. "...Kass?The Eldritch don't care about mortals beyond their own worshipers usually, right?"
"That is typical, yes, if they have any to begin with. Some do though," Kass answered, wondering where this was going.
"So, the only reason why a lot of Eldritch will ever care is because I care and they don't want to offend me, right?"
"I...wouldn't say that," Kass said with a hum. "If you wanted to live a lifetime or two normally, just by yourself with Aza, she would keep us all away for the time of your stay on Earth. And most of us wouldn't have cared. We don't care. But it is important to many of us that, even if we don't care, others do. You and Shub are just a few who care about mortals even when they don't worship you. And many of us try to respect that other Eldritch like you care. After all, we have eternity together. It wouldn't make sense to be at odds with someone you will know eternally if it's over something you largely don't care about."
"Huh," Issei said, looking up. "I guess that makes sense. And yeah, living a normal life? No, I've been enjoying meeting everyone too much for something that boring."
"What brought this on?" Kass asked curiously. "Something about your future selves bothering you?"
"Fuck that is still weird to think about," Issei said with a head shake. "Not really? Just the idea of it all, knowing Nycrama's backstory and all. Me steadily losing my humanity over time, and I just...sometimes worry how I'll turn out, who I'll be by the end of it. Would I even like the asshole I'll be in a few eons, or would he despise me for being the part of him that was more human?"
Kass smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, you'd know if your future selves resented ever being you. It's hard to keep that to yourself, imagine keeping it from yourself?"
"Fair," Issei said with a chuckle. "Guess I'm still human enough to worry about nothing."
"No, Eldritch do that too," Kass said with a giggle as she held out her hand to him. "Come, let's leave this place."
"Right, thanks for the pep talk," Issei said as he took the hand and stood up.
"Kungur or not, you're the reason my precious daughters aren't imprisoned," Kass said with a smile before lifting her hand and snapping her fingers.
Issei briefly saw them turn into tentacles as both Kass and himself were overcome with a bright white light.
There was the sound of something shattering as the brightness faded, and they were suddenly back in the ruined city.
Issei looked around and was amused to see Gactha sitting on a pile of corpses. "Welcome back, Master," she answered in the usual dead voice of her human form.
Yad stood nearby, giving the servant a very plain look as she addressed Issei. "She wanted to show you how many she killed while you were gone."
"That's actually a lot. I imagine you two took out a lot too, so thanks for taking care of that, ladies," Issei said with a nod.
Gactha's expression didn't change but she held her head a bit higher. Yad wordlessly held out her hand and turned the corpses into ash with her temporal powers. Gactha's expression didn't change as she fell from what she sat, landing on her feet without effort.
"So, Kass? That thing you did in the prison? That means the ooze is going to stop turning people into zombies, right?" Issei asked curiously.
"Yes, indeed, Kungur," Kass assured.
Issei looked to Yad. "Is that going to have any side effects on this place?" he asked curiously.
Yad glanced up in consideration of the timeline. "Yes, it will slowly mutate the natives over many generations. They will not mind the changes."
"Well, I guess that's- wait, will they even have the mind or sanity to care?" Issei asked suspiciously.
"They will still be sapient and similar to humans in mentality," Yad answered with a sigh. "I would not lead you astray with half-truths, Kungur, nor am I one to overlook such a detail when it comes to your desire."
"Sorry, but it's kinda a fair question with us Eldritch," Issei remarked with a weak smile.
Yad didn't refute that. "Do you wish to return to Japan now, Kungur?"
"First, I want to go let Batz and his people know this problem was taken care of," Issei answered.
End of Chapter
Well, Issei taught Nycrama a lesson in pain, and had a moment where his remaining humanity had a "WTF" moment because he did just torture someone. But yeah, that's the end of this little adventure. I'm enjoying this fic I explore this line of Issei not being opposed to losing his humanity/becomnig Eldrtich, but still has a lot to adjust to as it happens from time to time. Also, Akeno is having some girl time with Aza and Yog after Yog made the mistake of making a bet with Akeno.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this bit.
Early viewing of chapters 38-39:
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64