Chapter 43: Chapter 42: War And Diplomacy Part 4

The next day Carl, Gillian, Equinox and Sitter headed out to Mirage.

“Anyone know anything about the polite way to do this from a dragon gods’ perspective?” Carl asked the question without much hope, which was good because any hope was shattered pretty quickly.

“No, but maybe I should show my true power… Dragons are proud creatures, so they would not want to be treated lightly.”

“What if that makes them feel pressure to show-off?”

“I say do it. If they ask, we’ll just say we wanted our cards on the table.” It was a decision Carl soon regretted as he, Gillian and Sitter felt like they were being liquified from the unrelenting firestorm of black and white infernos. “Equinox! Tone it down a little or we might actually die!”

“Apologies, I’ll reevaluate your fragility.” Carl knew Equinox was hiding a lot of power, but he had no idea it was pushing the limits of what Lillim and Kyubi used as their usual level.

Even if that kind of power was child’s play to the likes of them, those dregs of their power were more than any of them could overcome and yet Carl had made something that did and was also completely out of his control.

“For what it’s worth Equinox, I’m proud of how you turned out. You could have been my biggest mistake, but I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“Carl… It means a lot to a creature to have their creator’s approval, but you should have higher standards. You invested a lot of effort and thought into creating them, you should demand the same effort from them in return. Now, we shouldn’t waste time, you should call them here.”

“Right, everybody ready?” Carl knew the answer already, there was no way they were, they were about to come face to face with two gods with no back up.

Carl sent the message and an instant later two portals opened up, the forms that stepped out were mostly human, but surrounded in two very intense auras.

Bahamut’s was warm, commanding and noble. He felt like he was both merciful to the weak and merciless to his enemies, which didn’t exactly fill them with confidence since he was the one actually involved in recent events.

Tiamat’s on the other hand was like a watered down version of Lillim’s hostile and , which these days the faction found weirdly comforting. Unfortunately Tiamat noticed everyone take a not so subtle step over to her side and immediately found that more than a little concerning.

“Are you trying to offend me? My aura may be repressed but having mortals step into it so casually is more than a little strange.”

“Sorry, no, no offence intended… It’s just that both of your auras are a bit overwhelming, but yours is similar to my grandmother Lillim’s, so to us at least it is a bit more tolerable than one completely alien.”

“Why not simply have your pseudo-dragon exert his?”

“His burns a little hot, though if you would like to see it before we begin, we three will go inside and he can show off.”

“Of course he does. So do we, that’s why we take human form.Why doesn’t he do the same?”

“Regrettably, I don’t have such an ability.”

“Hmph. I suppose that is understandable considering your origins.”

That was the first time they saw Equinox lose the balance he was so rigidly attached to…

His size and aura began to swell far beyond what he had shown before. The only reason Carl and the others weren’t incinerated was because Equinox produced a barrier to protect them from it.

“Apologies creator, you may need to restore the landscape but I won’t tolerate her insult.” His words weren’t idle either, his new size was colossal and hard to gauge but Carl estimate he stretched over two kilometres and the ground around him was glowing with heat.

“Calm yourself Equinox. Tiamat was merely testing you, both your loyalty and wanting to gauge your power. Understand it is one thing for us to create a new species of dragon, they follow our strict laws and are bound to us. We needed to see the judge the exception to that rule.”

“Equinox! I appreciate the support, but I don’t care what they think of me, this is unnecessary!” Carl shouted as loud as he could, he could tell from the way Equinox reacted to Bahamut’s words he could hear well enough for it to not be needed, but in their presence his voice simply sounded too small to reach anyone.

“Apologies Carl.”

“My apologies also. To think a mortal made such a creature is terrifying. He may not be on our level but on his own he could devastate many of our lands.” Tiamat scoffed with reluctant respect.

“Well maybe we should have the chat you both asked for. You seem to be under the impression that he is the only such creature, but I can make creatures like him whenever I want, this little guy was made for Gillian.” Carl said with a smile as he kneeled down to Sitter

“Would you truly try to claim it on the same level?” Bahamut said with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh no, all my creatures have their strengths but Equinox isn’t like them, he’s a step beyond and made using a special process. I could create another fifteen creatures the same way right now if I wanted to, but that would be reckless and put anyone not officially allied with me on edge.”

The dragon gods looked at each other, Carl took note but turned to lead the way indoors for them, meanwhile Gillian asked Sitter to start restoring the landscape.

’Does he really consider a beast able to effortlessly reshape the land inferior, or does he sincerely not understand the concept of power in general utility?’ Bahamut asked the question telepathically, to Tiamat, who seemed a little annoyed by the intrusion.

’I don’t know, he’s human at the end of the day and one raised by demon-ki-’

“Actually I was raised primarily by a half-banshee, though she was unable to complete her Howling and was mostly human as a result…” The dragon gods froze, the ripple it caused in their auras brought Carl to a stop with them.

“Did you hear that discussion?” Bahamut asked as his eyes narrowed, then they widened. “I think we should speak to Lillim and Kyubi before we speak to you.”

“No. I am the faction leader, not them. They are currently preoccupied and this is something I would rather have dealt with immediately, for better or worse I want to know what happens next. We mortals don’t have the luxury of time…” Carl chuckled, unaware that his light-hearted joke had hit with a more hostile tone than intended,

Carl was unaware he had tapped into their mental communication, as he was about Bahamut peeking into his stats. The shock was enough to put the god into a staggered state, then Carl’s insistence on seeing the matter resolved had cornered him.

If Carl had been aware of his intrusion it would have been one thing, but with the allies and recognition he had obtained, made the fact that he remained ignorant a telling sign that he was not in a position to talk freely about the matter with Carl.

“What is it Bahamut? You are the reason we are here, are you not?” Tiamat spat bitterly, not interested enough as a third party to inspect Carl’s stats personally and under the impression that if he wasn’t sharing what he had seen it must be because they were underwhelming.

“I mean no offence… I’d rather not have such a meeting without them to… Avoid you feeling out of your depth.”

Carl was genuinely appreciative of the settlement, but again he was only operating on his massively incomplete understanding of the situation and his typically characteristic vagueness was proving a most intimidating thing when combine with a bit of luck and ignorance.

“I married a half-banshee at eighteen and have a Kitsune daughter…” He laughed sincerely. “…At this stage out of my depth is my depth.”

Bahamut began to sweat, it was impossible to lie to him without his knowing, but the fact he was being so insistent and acting so casually in the company of higher beings reeked of conspiracy to him.

“Bahamut… I know it makes a change for you to be the one in the wrong, but if you truly feel bad for the boy’s power disadvantage I’ll have my meeting with him first and back him against you.”

Bahamut twitched, his pride was being polished on the surface, but it was shattering internally.

“Carl, it seems Tiamat is correct, he seems off-bala-”

“No need to fret Equinox, Tiamat’s offer was generous enough to help me accept the equality, between you and her you would pose a credible threat to me.” Bahamut had spoken to save himself the shame of having excuses made on his behalf, but twitched again when he realised that he had just agreed to meet with a total unknown.

For the first time, a human had completely out maneuvered a higher being, but the thought that Bahamut was consumed by was whether the fact he was oblivious to it was more or less impressive.

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