Chapter 244: Chapter 243: Old Management

With Neptunia contracted, Kyubi and Klaire returned to the Alysse’s palace with their prisoner in tow.

They were the last to return apart from Carl and Kitsunoko was likely wringing her trip for as much freedom as she foresaw herself having in her immediate future.

Upon arriving, they found that Alysse had remodelled her palace to hold a mass meeting, the topic of discussion made clear by everybody’s positions. The faction and ally forces in one intermingled mass, looking toward the front where the committee subjugation team stood with those they captured.

Klaire and Kyubi led Neptunia to that group, letting every step afford him a moment of consideration as he stared in utter disbelief at his captured comrades.

Jupiterran, Marsian, Venusiah, Satur, Mercurian and Sol, the one he expected above all to have gone down fighting. If he had thought to look toward the others when Klaire came for him, rather than just Gilgamesh, he would have seen the error of his ways much sooner.

“I can’t believe you actually surrendered, I thought for sure you would follow Terra, Plutinas and Ura to the grave!” Satur chuckled to everyone’s disquiet.

“The sight of our “glorious” leader imploding at the hands of their genuinely remarkable one was fortunately enough to open my eyes. I’d be lying if my inevitable death had I refused, didn’t have something to do with it as well.”

“Yeah, no offence, but I would have offered to help with you and Terra if they ran into problems. Though to be fair, I only surrendered because Infinity ordered me to, even I’m not carefree enough to disobey a law issued order.”

“Shut up you two, have some dignity for once and use the time until judgement is passed to consider your sins. Whatever comes next will undoubtedly be less than we deserve, otherwise we wouldn’t be here in the first place, if you don’t intend to truly repent then you should ask them to correct that.”

They were allowed to have their discussion, but they weren’t oblivious to the glaring looks the Elves and daughters of Lillim were casting at them. Back before the deal had been struck to avoid mass conflict, they had been bitter enemies and the air was far from clear.

A short while later, Carl returned in the company of both Ishtar and Illerion.

The newly empowered Illerion should have been the focus of the Elves attention, but next to the sudden resurrection of Ishtar it was background noise.

“I know! Ishtar’s alive and it’s very interesting, but we’ll get to that in due time!” Ishtar yelled in a way that Carl hated to admit carried a note of familial resemblance. Elf and demon alike were silenced in an instant, the weight of Ishtar’s reputation as both an inspired creator and legendary diplomat enduring even after a thousand years of death.

When Carl made it to the front, Klaire and Kyubi asked why he didn’t have Kitsunoko with him, which he immediately explained with a two armed gesture toward his companions. “How the hell do I even begin that lecture!? “You know you bringing Elder-gods back from the dead and turning psychos into super-psychos is wrong”? No offence you two.”

As everyone else laughed, Illerion and Ishtar both agreed that “no offence you two” did little to counteract it, but Ishtar had no room to speak and Illerion was too happy to care at that moment.

As much as the committee subjugation team were laughing, the demons also couldn’t help but laugh at Carl’s dilemma, but the Elves on the other hand knew better than to laugh at the Chaos-Elf and weren’t stupid enough to assume that allowance was unilateral.

When they had all calmed down a little, Carl got everyone’s focused attention and silence, then officially declared the battle done.

“Don’t you think it’s too soon to declare them “done”?” The voice of Luthwynne called out from a spot near the front and immediately earned Illerion’s ire.

“He said the battle is done. It is their battle, if they are done fighting, then they are done.” The tension was palpable and their auras clashed as Luthwynne ordered her silent, then she cackled in the face of the irresistible authority of the ten-star of her species.

It broke the fundamental rules of the pantheons, the ten-star is the unquestioned, undisputed, undeniable absolute authority of their kin.

Kyubi held that power over Tenko, Klaire held that power over banshee, Lillim was an exception because she hadn’t yet officially claimed Samael’s throne, but Illerion had yet to attain that level.

Whatever had empowered her, had also broken that law.

“No…” she said as she saw the thought behind everyone’s eyes. “…I break no law, I have simply become the law itself. It is your children who ignore us Carl, except Ki-ko who would rather boss us about.

Hear me! From now on we laws will see ourselves represented in this world, so our will may be both clear and enforced. We will ensure no atrocity is committed by those borrowing our power again.”

The members of the committee all turned to Satur, as though wondering if he had known as the only one who had heard the words of a law clearly, but he shrugged and explained he hadn’t heard a thing before laughing at how much they overestimated his connection.

“Just because the wrapper holds your favourite treat, doesn’t mean the wrapper is your favourite, it will still get thrown out.” As he laughed at the grim, painfully accurate analogy, Carl coughed into his hand to regain attention whilst trying his best not to be annoyed by the immediate derailment of the conversation.

“Like I said, the battle is done, we have two-thirds of the enemy leadership contracted to servitude. So, now we need to focus on rebuilding and resupplying the human territory, whilst also working to-” He found himself interrupted again, but this time Illerion seemed to be more agreeable to Luthwynne’s words.

“If that is what you wish, but would it not be prudent to rebuild the leadership structure? If you don’t, everything you build will fall apart quickly.”

Carl created a podium in front of himself, then leaned onto it with crossed arms so he could bury his face.

“I just said that we captured and contracted two-thirds of the previous regime, who also happen to have the ability to control those droves of altered humans and intimate knowledge of the territory.

They get to deal with fixing up their own mess, I’ve still got to clean up Margo’s, so I don’t really have the time or to be honest the knowledge and experience needed to keep millions in line.”

Shock, rage and confusion filled the hearts and minds of everyone present, including those of the committee members. The only exceptions were those who knew him and assumed he had been planning something to that effect, and the newly revived Ishtar who started laughing at the absurdity.

As outrage began to grow within those gathered, to whom it felt like he was making a mockery of their efforts, then Kitsunoko and her siblings appeared with an entirely different air about them.

“Hello everyone.” The two words carried more gravitas than any they had heard before and as Kitsunoko walked over to her parents flanked by her siblings, they were certain that she had the power to snuff out even Margo if she wanted.

As she got close enough to begin her apology though, that suddenly disappeared and she started to wobble. “…I had to borrow… future me’s power… Body too weak… Sleepy time.” She then promptly collapsed onto her brother.

“So she used her knowledge of the future to force access to methods of utilising her power which her body is still too immature to use properly…” Lillim tutted, as Kyubi then collected her. “…I’ve seen individuals do this before, they ended up sleeping for days and that was nothing compared to this, this was more like bringing the future to the present and I expect the price to be far greater.

Ekrow once slept for a week, so I’d expect her to be out until after the new year, consider her a non-participant for the battle ahead and lucky to be alive. I imagine she had to systematically sacrifice fundamental access to all but one law in order to pose as a master to each in turn.”

A wicked grin spread across Kyubi’s face as she asked for a few moments of Carl’s time, who took on an expression of second-hand pain and pity as he fulfilled Kyubi’s request, petting his daughter’s head and saying goodbye for the time being.

As Kyubi disappeared to the space she’d had Carl create, Carl once again got back to the issue at hand, asking if anyone still wanted to question the decision. Of course there were several dozen more cynical thinkers who thought that he was relying on the impression that fleeting view of his daughter left.

“…Fine. Tiamutael, can you let everyone you’re currently looking at feel your gaze?”

“I can, but I’d rather not, there might be some like that woman.”

“Fair enough, how about you let me see what you do and you can let them feel my gaze?”

“Sure, if you want to be the one people find creepy…”

For an instant everyone suddenly felt as though Carl was looking over their shoulders, not just those present, but all those spread throughout the various realms his eyes had found up to then.

To the less perceptive, they felt an inkling they were being watched.

To the moderately perceptive, they felt the weight of an ascended being spying on them.

To the most perceptive, they felt a being of indeterminate origin, intent and power intruding wherever he wished without issue or concern. The kind of audacity that comes from one not only possessing great individual power or backed by others of power, but both.

It was a moment of absolute futility for them all, who suddenly realised why Carl was so confident in that moment. Whilst true the potential to be an unstoppable force in future, at his current level, Tiamutael had limits.

In wake of the revelation that he could extend his abilities to others though, it made those he trusted unstoppable in turn; or in other words, his family.

“Well? Anyone still doubting that we can keep them in line?…”

Carl picked that moment to declare his family’s intentions, explaining that they fully intended to get the world back in order before retiring into a realm of their own creation, returning only to step in when something threatened to disturb their peace or visit friends and family who didn’t go with them.

He then announced that with that in mind, they refused to drag it out needlessly and they would be hunting down Margo and finishing the game without delay.

The casual announcement that he was going to finish it, like he was his homework earlier that same year, made Ishtar laugh even harder.

“I made you well, but I didn’t make you a miracle worker. This will take more than a month, Carl.”

Carl grunted back, earning an indiscernible reaction in response to his indifference toward her. “Oh, for those that don’t know, Ishtar is the woman who gave birth to me and then denied it right to my face.

She is also completely ignorant and would have known how to end the game without him if she had been paying attention.”

As everyone began to murmur he turned to Klaire and asked her if she noticed the difference, surprised by her negative response until Kyubi returned and filled him in. Klaire’s ongoing trauma was hardly a surprise and after being shown how far short of the source she still was, it made perfect sense she’d be rattled.

“Luckily, I was paying attention, Carl…” Lillim’s intervention left Carl feeling relieved, since his perspective alone would have seemed like wishful thinking. “…This is the third time I have felt Margo’s presence in recent days. The first when Carl, Klaire and Squidge died, the second was in the wake of Klaire’s Howling and both of those times his power was unchanged.

This time however, his power was undoubtedly diminished. The difference, is that since the last time; Carl has defeated two of his villains. If we defeat the rest his power will be immense but manageable.”

Carl threw a mock salute to his grandmother as thanks and received an amused smile in return.

“As my grandma just said, all we need to do is defeat his minions first. I don’t think that will be an easy task by any stretch, they all have powers beyond what most do and I got a glimpse of their divinity, I can’t copy them.

I got lucky with Amaterasu, since her divinity was used in my design, but the others are completely different to all I’ve seen before…”

He described the girl, who was confirmed to be Pandora. Her power was strange and more like an amalgamation of subtleties twisted into something glaringly overt.

The old man, who was deduced to be Mobius, seemed to a network of whos and whens interlaced and layered over one another.

The other was Dagon, the mad prophet, the dragon of fathomless madness; It was a being that seemed part way between a delusion and personification of the systemic madness that all things use to protect their minds from truth of reality’s horrors.

On top of those, there was the Grand Crown of the infernal realms that Lillim still needed to usurp and the ever bewildering version of their son that decided to align with Margo for a reason that they had yet to discern with any certainty.

They wanted answers from the latter, but with what Carl knew, it felt more to him like he was trying to prove something to himself. As a foe, he was unconquerable, which meant the only way to do so was to fulfill his desire.

“There are also two more, their identities a secret, designated as the twist and the betrayal. I doubt they know the role they have to play in the game.” Ishtar’s interjection was followed by her reminding everyone of Margo’s words at the meeting where he first announced his plan.

Everyone present took a moment to consider those points, but then Carl decided that it was stupid to obsess over that point, since it would only undermine any sort of camaraderie whilst also stalling anyone from taking action.

It was the same simple decisive that bordered on defeatist pragmatism to the ears of the naturally egocentric immortals. Despite their almost intuitive distaste of such thinking however, they had all learned to simply accept it as a unique idiosyncrasy of the ascended human.

Which quickly led to the most important question on their minds. “So what is the next step and when do we do it?”

“I don’t know about you guys, but my next step is to check on my daughter. After that, I’m taking the vampires to go and officially oversee the coronation of the next leader of the vampires, Dracula’s heir, Narcissus.”

That created a whole new wave of objections that lasted until Carl explained that Narcissus was under the same contract as the members of the committee, which meant that under his rule the vampires would be forced to restructure and reinvent their way of life.

It was enough to satisfy everyone for the time being, at least enough for them to retire to their daughter’s side, though no one was particularly happy about Illerion’s unerring clinginess or Ishtar’s presence in general.

The space they were in, as per Kyubi’s secret request, was a large plain space that was decorated sparsely with bland furnishings.

The closest thing to entertainment that existed in this space was an Alexandrian collection of educational materials and instructional manuals.

The only wall furnishing to speak of was what amounted to a small note that read:

“To our beloved daughter, we are very proud of the strength you displayed and seeing you for even a brief moment is a moment that we will treasure forever as your loving parents. However, in acting so recklessly, you have shown that you lack both knowledge and discipline which we cannot tolerate.

You are hereby grounded and confined in this room until you have rectified that, which you can show by completing every workbook and mastering every skill illustrated in every book held within.

If you start now, it should only take a decade or two of unfaltering diligence and we can’t wait to see you again.

Lots of love, your Dad, Mama Klaire and Mama Kyubi.”

Whilst Klaire stifled her chuckling at the first and most maniacal example of fox-like mischief they’d seen Kyubi exhibit in a while, she couldn’t help but detect a certain sense of “This is how you pull a prank, kid” mixed in.”

As they all spoke to Kitsunoko and applauded her and lectured her in her sleep, Omedra and Squidge asked if Carl was going to go and rebuild the house so they had somewhere to sleep.

“Nah, don’t really see much point in making it again, just to leave it to rot in next to no time at all. Ishtar, wanna teach me how to make a realm? Like how you saw fit to have the system teach me how to do everything but make a home for myself away from it all by the way.”

“Couldn’t risk you deciding to let everyone sort out their own mess when you would have inevitably gotten dragged into it regardless. Since you’re past making that decision however, I suppose there really isn’t a reason to not show you…” Ishtar tried to open a portal several times, then looked at the others with an expression of defeat. “…Apologies, seems I can’t actually do anything for now.”

“Relax, I just made this room out of a material that blocks anyone inside from manipulating ambient divinity and externalising their own. It was made to make our daughter regret her actions remember, that requires extreme measures.”

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