Gate: Thus the Brotherhood of Steel Lyon's Pride Fought in Their Land

Chapter Interlude - Megumin

The smoking crater of what had been a structure laid before them. Megumin breathed deeply, her eyes fluttering, and before she could completely drop Kazuma caught her. She exhaled, her small body going completely limp, "Oh, that felt good."

Three hours earlier

The children were on their way to the capital. Aqua had demanded to go with them. She was explaining how important it was going to be for her to ensure their minds were properly taken care of, and that she was ensured that they would become part of the Axis religion. She only decided to stay when Kazuma made the off handed remark about treasure. Megumin rolled her eyes at the goddess. Aqua was not what she believed that a goddess, any goddess, should act like.

She was spoiled, full of herself, and more often than not she was a complete and total pain in the ass. Anytime that she wanted to have Kazuma to herself Aqua was there. She was complaining about him not killing the devil king, and about how they needed to get everything done already. Her beginning and end was about getting back to her cushy job as a goddess. It wasn't like she didn't care for Kazuma. Megumin wasn't dumb. But it was the kind of way that a sister cared for a brother. She annoyed him, and by extension her, every single chance that she got. She proved herself to be a complete and total pain in the ass with every damned moment. The worst part was when she would come into where they were being intimate. It was beyond embarrassing.

So, hearing her spouting off again, especially about how everyone should just be bowing down and worshiping her, Megumin felt herself getting angry. It was the same song and dance, over, and over, and over, and over, and over again, "Aqua, if you want to be worshipped, then how about doing something worthy of being worshipped?" Megumin asked, "Look, I don't always agree with Kasuma, but you really don't do much. You drink your booze, eat more than your share of food, and complain. The only times that you really do anything is when you believe that it's your people on the line."

The goddess' eyes began to tear up, "I…I thought that you liked me!" she cried as she walked beside them, "I try really hard to be a good member of the party, and you're gonna be mean like that?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder, "Don't fall for it," Kazuma said, "She's really good at pretending to be a victim. Aqua, Megumin's right in what you do, but if you really want to be worshipped then why don't you do something constructive? We know that you can purify the water, but you admitted that the stuff polluting it would make it toxic again. So, why don't you tell them how to remove it?"

She looked at him, "Ummm, because that would take them years to do," she said, as if she was speaking to a child, "I mean really, what good does it do for me to tell them how to clean it, purify it, and then have to just stay here to keep doing it? They'd need to clean everything out from their rivers, oceans, and everywhere else. It would take them so long to do that most of the people that are grown right now would be old and feeble when it was done. It would be great, for their children and their grandchildren, but it would suck for them."

He studied her for a moment, "And wouldn't it be worth it for the future?"

She stared at him, "Not for me! I want more followers now damnit! I want to be showered in bubbly, and I want expensive food, and I want to be treated like the goddess I am! I want buff guys wearing next to nothing bringing me good food all day! I don't want to have to work that long to get new followers! So, just get us home, beat the devil king, and get me back to my goddessy position!"

He looked at her, "I can't get us back until that gate reopens, and thanks to you sending that idiot over before me we've still got a couple of months! Month's Aqua, we've got Months, not days, not hours, not minutes, but months! I've got a fortune waiting for me! I'm rich over there, and thanks to you we're stuck here! So, I don't want to hear your complaining! Actually, to start making up for everything you really need to purify the water around here! The people could use it, we could use it, and it would be more useful than your complaining!"

Megumin watched as she sniffed, her brow bunched up, and then she stalked over toward what looked like a collapsed building, "FINE!" With that she shoved her hand into a pond that surrounded what looked like a couple of buildings that were next to each other, "PURIFY!"

The action was instantaneous. Within seconds the water began to change, and she watched as the pond itself lost all of the strange color that had been in it. And at that moment there was a rumble. Something huge began to move, and she watched as one of the buildings began to fall. They all jumped back, trying to escape from whatever it was that was mad. There she saw the single biggest crab that she'd ever seen in her life. "Mirelurk Queen!" someone shouted, "Damn it, we need missiles or a mini nuke!"

She looked at Kazuma, "get its attention!" she shouted before she held out her staff, "I am Megumin! Mistress of explosion magic! There is no man made weapon that can dare to match my power! Behold my might, and tremble!"

The sky began to change colors, crimson light began to glow above them, and it focused down where the Mirelurk Queen was. She felt the power of the spell, the multiple little pieces falling into place, and then suddenly it released. It hit the queen, directly, and she watched as the power of her spell broke through its shell, busted it apart, and then hit the bottom of the building it had collapsed. When it did there was a chainreaction that caused a larger explosion. With it was the annihilation of the entire nest of mirelurks that had been living there in the nearly collapsed couple of buildings. Everyone else seemed to all be seeing the same thing. The water, the nearly collapsed buildings, all of it was gone. The nest that had been there was gone, and the only one that was doing anything was Kazuma. Megumin wasn't afraid to use her explosion magic because of her Kazuma. She knew that he'd be there for her. So while everyone else stood looking at the smoking crater of what had been a structure laid before them. Megumin breathed deeply, her eyes fluttering, and before she could completely drop Kazuma caught her. She exhaled, her small body going completely limp, "Oh, that felt good."

There was a soft chuckle coming from Kazuma, "You're my little explosion addicted psycho, aren't you?" he asked, as he held her, "You did good."

She smiled, "That thing was huge, what do you think the guild would have paid for that?"

There was some quiet, "Oh, at least thirty thousand Eris," he said finally, "Of course if it was half as dangerous as it looked, probably more, but we both know the guild would try to low ball us first. It's just how they run business," he stated as he held her, "So, how did it feel to unleash your power in this world?"

There was a little wiggle, a slight tease of what she was promising for later, "It felt good, but whatever was in that building caused it to go even more. I wonder what it was," she asked her voice sounding tired, "I mean I know that my explosion magic is powerful, but that seemed to have extra power from somewhere."

"It was a fusion core," Adam said from near them, "There likely was a fusion generator in the building, and that was a pretty low yield explosion after the explosion, so I'm guessing that the core itself was either damaged or it was pretty low on power. A full and in good repair one usually would take out more than that," he stated as he looked around, "Or maybe it was the explosion beforehand that just contained most of its explosion. Still, it was nice not having to deal with a Mirelurk Queen."

A quick look toward Sentinel Reeder told Megumin that not everyone was exactly thrilled at the situation. She wasn't regretting it at all. Mostly because they had needed an explosion anyway, but mostly because it meant that Kazuma was fine, and so was Darkness and Aqua. Plus, all of the others that she had come to consider friends as well. She heard the heavy footfalls of power armor as Sentinel Reeder neared her. The sound of the ruined asphalt crunching around them was enough to know that Sentinel Reeder was walking with a purpose.

"What had I said about using that spell without a good reason?"

There was a moment of silence, but Megumin felt Kazuma shift her slightly, "Uh, did you happen to see the giant crab?" he asked, his voice sounding neutral, "I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one that saw it. See, that thing was going to attack us. I'd say that was a pretty good reason," he stated, his voice not raising in octave. She had to admit that she admired how he could keep a cool head when talking to someone else, "So, maybe a thank you instead of being kind of pissy about it?"

The strange breathing coming from the suit that Sentinel Reeder was wearing seemed to linger for a moment, "Yes, the Mirelurk Queen was dangerous, and yes it would have been difficult, at best, to deal with it without the necessary weapons. Still, if that fusion core would have been at full power there is a very good chance that none of us would be standing here still."

Kazuma breathed out, "I get it," he replied, "I do, but at the same time we wouldn't be standing here either if that thing would have been able to attack us. Look, I've actually been in the middle of those explosions before, and yes dying sucks. It really sucks. There is nothing fun about it, but we didn't die, none of us are hurt, and we managed to take down something that likely was going to cause more problems."

He looked around for a moment, "And let's be honest, it was most likely that this was Aqua's fault," he said, "I mean that thing only attacked after she purified that water."

"HEY!" Aqua shouted, "I purified that water because all of you decided to pick on me about being useless! I'm not useless! I'm the goddess Aqua! I'm powerful, a healer, and I'm cute as a button too! You're lucky to have such a skilled and powerful goddess in your party as me! You should be thanking me daily, Kazuma!"

Kazuma looked toward her, "Aqua, look, I'm willing to admit that we shouldn't have been teasing you, but you could have held off doing anything. I mean it. We know that this place is dangerous. In truth, it's way more dangerous than the world we come from, and even more dangerous than the world on the other side of the gate. What we know for sure is that this world is not the kind of place that seems to forgive mistakes easily. Honestly, I think that you're lucky with the fact that what happened wasn't that bad."

Whatever remark that was going go come from her seemed to dry up. Instead Aqua turned away from him, from the discussion, and her eyes went back to the crater that was newly formed. Her attention was completely on it, and Megumin seemed to be completely focused there. She slowly moved toward it, and she wasn't the only one. Rory was doing the same thing. It was almost as if they were being drawn over toward it. Megumin could feel something as well. It felt like a pull, like something was trying to pull the more mystical parts of her toward the crater.

She looked to see the other two that were there with them trying to keep from moving. Whatever it was seemed to want them closer, "Kazuma, something is in the crater, something is calling to us."

Since getting duped to coming to the world where Aqua had sent him there were a few things that Kazuma had long since learned. One of those things was the fact that he sensed the changes around him. Seeing Aqua, a literal goddess, along with Rory. who was a demi goddess, heading toward the crater told him that there was something similar to cursed magic at play. A small breath was all it took. He felt it surge through him too. The pull was there, but it was less. Since he could use magic, and since he did know spells, it would only make sense that it would affect him.

The problem was that the pull of it wasn't strong enough to actively make him walk toward the crater. Instead he took a moment, and his eyes practically shined with the brillant, and incredibly stupid, idea that he had. There was no getting out of the fact that he was going to deal with Aqua's complaining and bitching for days at this point. But it was a better alternative, "Hey Aqua, Rory, so are you two so weak that some cut rate cursed magic makes you both walk toward a crater without a second thought?"

Both of them froze. It was Aqua that turned toward him first, "What did you say Kazuma?" she growled, "What did you say about me? Huh?! I'm getting pretty sick and tired of being the butt of your jokes! I'm not weak damn it! I'm a goddess! I am the goddess Aqua! I am the goddess of water, the goddess worshiped by the Axis religion! I am super powerful due to the strength of my followers' faith and dedication to me!"

"Guess that it doesn't meant much since whatever is in that crater is making you walk toward it! And Rory, Emory can't be much better if it's making you walk toward it too!"

The short demigoddess turned toward him, her lips turning to a shade of purple, "How dare you compare Emory to this failed goddess?!" she exclaimed as she looked at him, "Emory is a million times more powerful, and is the very one that judges and accepts all of the dead! Your mortal tongue has dared to defile Emory's very being by daring to compare Emory's power to that of this weakling that calls herself a goddess!"

"Then prove it," he said, "both of you were walking toward the crater like something had control of your minds. So, stop it. Figure out what it was, and keep from going over there. There shouldn't be a thing in this, or any other, world that has that kind of power over you. Resist it, and get your butts back over here! Unless of course you're both too weak to resist whatever is in that crater."

That taunt was enough. The both of them began moving toward him, and he felt the pull become greater than it had been. Whatever it was that in the crater didn't want to lose the two of them. He could see them slowing down for a moment, but then he knew what it would take. He also knew that there was a very real chance that he was flirting with death. He didn't like the idea of flirting with Death too much. For one he wasn't sure that Aqua could actually bring him back from the dead in this place.

The other reason was because dying really sucked. It didn't matter if he was able to come back to life, it completely blew goats to die and then be brought back to life. He didn't know a single soul that actively wanted to die over and over again. It was completely insane to even really want to deal with that. It was beyond masochistic to go through that kind of torture. He wasn't like that. Sure, coming back had advantages, and to be honest he had way more reasons to stay alive now. One of them was being held by him right now.

"What did you say Kazuma?" Aqua asked as she neared him, "Huh? What was it that you were saying about me?" Aqua asked as she neared him, "I swear, you're asking for a goddess requiem to the face so bad. I don't even want to cap it. I want to see if I can turn your head into a fine mist as I punch it."

"That's the first sensible thing that I've heard you say," Rory stated as she neared him, "Taking his life from him is the only suitable punishment for besmirching the name of Emory!"

He looked at them both, "And it got you both away from that crater," he said, as he looked at them, "Look, I get that you're mad, and you've got the right to be, but think about what was happening. There's something in that crater that is calling to everyone that can use magic. The both of you were really affected because of what you were. I knew that the best way of stopping it was to give you something that had more of a draw than whatever was in there. And honestly, your egos was the best option."

Both of them froze for a moment, "Just a second," Rory said as she looked at him, "You purposefully placed yourself in danger, knowing that that we could easily kill you, just in order to save us?" she asked as she studied him, "I take it back, you are both very foolish and brave. You've got a warrior's heart. You still deserve some punishment for besmirching the name of Emory, but you did so with good intentions. I believe that Emory would forgive you after a simple punch."

"Nuhuh," Aqua said as she rubbed her fist, "I'm gonna punch you so freaking hard that your head is going to go flying! How dare you call me weak?! I'm not weak Kazuma!"

"Do anything to my Kazuma, anything at all, and I will use explosion on what you hold most dear Aqua," Megumin said, her voice baring absolutely no hesitation, "I mean it. I will absolutely annihilate the very thing that you love the most. Consider that for a moment. What happens to a goddess that suddenly doesn't have a following? I'm pretty sure that it means that you're going to be in some deep trouble, right?"

Kazuma watched as Aqua calmed down, "Megumin, wait, I can resurrect him, it's not that big of a deal!"

"We don't know if that works here, and besides, I don't like watching him die, so back off. He saved you, be thankful."

It was Sentinel Reeder that stepped closer, "If there is something in there, then we need to deal with this."

Kazuma nodded, "Yeah, but how?"