This is the one that pissed a lot of readers off. It was supposed to be the ending, and I thought it was a good ending, but it turns out that I'd completely misread what MGQ fans wanted out of the story. So this isn't actually the ending, I had to go back and fix some things through the trope of time travel, which makes this third Luka's Story a trainwreck, but the fourth book ended up being my most well received since the original, so hopefully you'll like that one too.
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Alice was still absent in the morning. Tamamo conferred with her telepathically and informed me that Alice was fine. She and Micaela were simply not quite done. Due to the scare with the lizard army attacking a village so close to Enrika, Micaela wanted to learn how to close the portals. She may have been a Seraph, but her skills had grown quite rusty. Tamamo joked that Micaela didn't know a single spell that hadn't been invented several centuries ago. Although she had never given up her divinity, she had lived like a human for the most part, almost never using her abilities except in emergencies.
Since Alice was likely to be gone for the day, Tamamo decided to spend the day with me. We checked on Neris(busy), Nero(distracted by a lovely young succubus, presumably Olivia, on his lap), and Saja(grumpy). Granberia and Erubetie were a little friendlier, and we had wonderful chats about old times. I hadn't noticed before, but Erubetie had really lightened up over the years. Her language and manner were still ultra formal, like Granberia's, but she had a wicked sense of humor and loved to gossip about the castle denizens. Things eventually turned to the problem at hand, however.
"So you think the last ring is in heaven?" Granberia asked.
"It's just my hunch," I cautioned. "The ring isn't detectable. But since one was in subspace, and heaven is the only other place that the scanners don't reach, heaven seems to be the most logical place to check."
"Heh," Erubetie said. "Luka said 'logic.'"
"He's so cute when he tries to sound smart," Tamamo giggled.
"Nevertheless, he is right," Granberia said. "I saw no similar rings on the fingers of any of the other ancestors. I have a hunch as well. Tamamo, are you able to commune telepathically with Saja?"
"Sure," Tamamo replied. "Do you want her to join us?"
"I would," Granberia replied. "I think she may know exactly where the last ring is, assuming my hunch is correct."
Tamamo briefly concentrated. A few minutes later, Saja walked into our little meeting room. More of a lounge, actually. I got up to offer her my seat, since all four lounge chairs were taken. Saja declined my offer, looking mildly insulted for some reason. Then, when I sat back down, she sat on my lap, gently coiling around me.
"Thank you for offering me your seat," Saja said, with a seductive smile. She turned to the others. "You needed to ask something of me?"
"Why did you have a ring of Brocia?" Granberia asked.
"Especially that ring," Tamamo added. "Did you know that's a ring of immortality? What use could you possibly have for it?"
"It was entrusted to me," Saja replied. "What safer place for a ring to be than on the finger of the most trusted Ancestor? The rings together are dangerous, but except for the one that grants immortality, harmless. The Dark God and Ilias did not wish whole nations to go to war over this particular ring."
"I heard nothing of this!" Tamamo objected. "Why wouldn't I be informed?"
"It was a rare agreement between the Dark God and Ilias," Saja explained. "It was in neither of their interests to see anyone able to wield all of the world's free dark and holy energy. So one ring was entrusted to me. Do not feel left out Tamamo, none of our other sisters knew about this. This was something that only I, the Dark God, and Ilias knew of. And of course, whoever Ilias entrusted her ring to."
"A Seraph," Granberia mused. "Let us hope it was Eden or Micaela. If it was Lucifina…."
"So it probably is in heaven!" I exulted.
"It might as well be on Mars," Saja said. "No monster would be permitted entry to heaven, and I know none of you would countenance Luka going in alone."
"You should really keep up, Saja," Tamamo giggled. "Luka and Eden are tight. It's not going to be a problem. Just don't go reviving Ilias without Micaela around. You'll have all five rings, and Eden may try to talk you into doing it right away. As much as I trust Eden now, I doubt she'd lift a finger to help you if it came to a fight with Ilias. Make sure you have backup. If it can't be us, Micaela is the next best thing."
"That sounds like a tomorrow problem," Saja said, turning back to me. "For today, would you care to join me for a meal, sister? The Monster Lord chose well. His smell is like the finest filet mignon."
"Tamamo isn't the one you should be asking," Granberia said coldly. "We do not simply feed on humans because they are tasty. You must ask him."
"You shouldn't even do that," Erubetie added. "He only just returned. Respect the Monster Lord by not trying to seduce her husband."
"I like you, Luka," Saja said. "So I will do things your way. This world will not descend into savagery again because of me. But one day you absolutely must tell me how you came to marry a Monster Lord."
"He literally wrote the book on the subject," Granberia said. "You should read it. You and your sisters. You might learn something."
The three Heavenly Knights abruptly stopped to listen to something. Were they getting a message of some sort? Apparently so.
"We've got a slow opening portal near Grand Noah!" Tamamo said. "Saja, I'd like to take you and our sisters to go deal with the problem. This affects all of us. Will you come?"
"Only if this delicious and powerful man comes with us," Saja said, lightly caressing my chest. "I don't believe I've ever truly had the privilege of seeing him in action."
"If Luka is going, so am I!" Granberia said. "I'm going to go get my sword. Try not to defeat the enemy before I arrive."
"Do you have the coordinates, Tamamo?" Saja asked. "I didn't receive that transmission."
Tamamo concentrated for a moment. "Thank you," Saja said, and just like that I was gone.
I found myself with Saja still wrapped around me. It certainly looked like the Noah region, with lush plains and fields of flowers. Saja released me and looked around.
"So what do these rifts look like?" she asked me. Before I could answer four of her sisters popped in.
"Oh, you didn't tell us you were bringing dinner," Hiruko said.
"I didn't," Saja replied. "We are here for a purpose, to show that we can be trusted to serve this world and the Monster Lord as we did the Dark God. Threats are emerging from these rifts. We will deal with the threat, with Luka as our ally."
Tamamo popped in. "Saja! What the hell are you doing, just taking him like that!?"
"I was just joking with you," Saja replied mildly. "I was not going to molest him. We have a job to do. I just like to flirt."
"You've NEVER been a flirt," Tamamo said. "I've never seen you look at a man that way and not have him crying out your name within seconds!"
"It's a new world," Saja replied. "He hasn't said yes to me. Yet."
"So, dinner," Kanon said to me. "What's the plan? What should we expect?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "We never know what's coming out of these things. I can't imagine it's anything the Six Ancestors can't handle. Tamamo, what's the toughest thing to ever come out of one of these?"
"Granberia and I encountered an energy being a few years back," Tamamo said. "It was back on its home world before we could figure out how to hurt it, but in the time it was here it hurt us pretty bad. We were both in bed for two days."
Two days? It still amazed me how fast they recovered. If they weren't killed, that is.
"Six Ancestors plus dinner here are better than two Heavenly Knights," Minagi said. "This will be a nice warmup after a long layoff."
"Luka, are you going to let them call you that?" Tamamo asked.
"They can call me whatever they want," I shrugged.
"I agree with Tamamo," Saja said. "You should show more respect to one who defeated you personally, Minagi."
"I'm eager to have THAT kind of rematch anytime!" Minagi giggled.
"Enough with the banter," Kanade said. "I see the portal clearly now. It begins to open."
I hadn't been able to find it, but I looked in the general direction Kanade was looking and finally noticed it. It wouldn't be long before whatever nightmare from another world was in there would emerge. That brought up some questions in my mind.
"Tamamo, don't normal humans or monsters ever come out of there?"
"Never," Tamamo said. "Promestein explained that those rifts are completely random. Most worlds don't contain life as we know it. Metallic lifeforms, silicon life forms, energy beings… those lizard guys are probably the closest we've seen to our kind of life."
Of course right after she said that, the first being emerged from the rift and was quite human looking. It was a man, a strikingly handsome man, so much so that all of the ladies cooed. Despite the fact that the man was several hundred yards away, the sound caused him to immediately turn to look our way. Three other men emerged from the rift. The one who had exited the portal first pointed in our direction. Before any of us could react, they took to the air and came at us as if shot from a gun. Tamamo, Hiruko, and Kanon were carried off. All three had reacted quickly, wrapping their anatomies around the men, causing them to lose their bearings and crash in the distance. Earth and dust kicked up in the distance as they battled.
More men began to emerge from the portal and fly at us. I summoned all four spirits, the real ones, and my fake Angel Halo.
"Yay! We're all back now!" Sylph yelled with delight. "I was afraid you were just going to leave me in here all alone!"
Since we were ready for them this time, they didn't succeed in carrying us off. Saja, Minagi, and Kanade were locked in battle with multiple opponents. Apparently I was assumed to be the weakest, as I faced just one.
My opponent's speed was nearly as great as mine. The flow was completely ineffective at predicting his movements, which resulted in me taking hits. His blows were like jackhammers, more powerful than any physical attack I had ever experienced. Gnome protected me from being pulverized, but I knew I wouldn't be able to take that kind of punishment for long. My virtual sword did nothing. I'd have done just as well hitting him with a plush teddy bear. In desperation I blasted him with my power, hoping that I wouldn't kill him. The blast did the trick, stunning him, causing him to careen off into the distance, where he disappeared, presumably sent back to his own world. I surveyed the battlefield, trying to figure out who needed the most help. I sighted three of the Ancestors, all losing badly. Their attacks seemed to do nothing to these men. Who are these guys? I wondered. Kryptonians or something?
"Nothing I do stops these guys!" Kanade yelled. Her acidic slime attacks didn't even burn their clothing, and when she tried to bind them in her slime they broke out with contemptuous ease. Fortunately, they hadn't yet figured out how to really hurt her either, their punches doing little more than knocking slime from her body, which she recovered to herself even faster than Erubetie was capable of doing.
"Neither swords, nor magic, nor binding can even slow them down!" Saja yelled in agreement, before a left hook from one of the men knocked one of her teeth out.
"I don't know, I'm not having any problems," Minagi shouted.
I looked towards the source of the voice to find Minagi. Indeed, she was doing quite well. Three men lay prostrate, quivering and helpless, before her. She had their pants off and one of their dicks in her mouth, while her hands worked on the other two. Their resistance was already at an end.
"Minagi, no!" I shouted. "You'll bind them here! We need to retreat! They'll end up back where they belong soon enough, anyway."
"Now you tell me?" Minagi mumbled, semen dripping out of her mouth.
"No, Luka," Tamamo corrected, appearing at my side. "Beings this powerful can probably stay as long as they are consciously trying to do so. Minagi has the right idea. The binding ritual only works when done in their home world, like it was done with you. And even that only works with vaginal sex."
Tamamo began to shout commands. "Sisters! Our physical attacks are ineffective. Pleasure attacks only! But just to be safe, no vaginal sex!"
That turned the tide of battle quickly. Saja put away her swords, catching one of the men in her tail and diving onto his penis with her mouth. At the same time, she grabbed another with her human arms and began pleasuring him with the end of her tail. Minagi flew to and fro at lightning speed, catching men, pantsing them, and making them come in seconds, before moving onto the next. Kanade and Kanon were able to perform pleasure attacks on many men at once. Tamamo used her nine moons technique on three men at once, three tails each. It was working. As the men lost consciousness, they disappeared. So powerful were the sexual attacks of the Ancestors that they ceased resistance the second they were touched. In fifteen minutes, it was over, all the men having disappeared.
"Now THAT was a meal!" Saja said, quite satisfied. "Tamamo, you can lick semen off of your tails later, you must show me how to close that rift!"
Embarrassed, Tamamo stopped licking herself and the two of them teleported ahead to the rift. Minagi arrived at my side.
"Those men were as delicious as you!" she said happily, making a point of seductively licking her hands. "If they ever return, I'm definitely volunteering to battle them again!"
"Perhaps we should not have ensured that humans here remained weak," Kanon observed, joining us. "Strong humans make delicious semen."
"I hear there's a village full of strong humans to the east," Kanade said. "I think I might want to settle there."
Tamamo and Saja returned, the rift closed.
"Luka, I'm worried," Tamamo said. "We've never had two in two days before. Three this week!"
"I fear that we may no longer have the luxury of time," Saja agreed. "Tomorrow, at the latest, you must journey to heaven and get the last ring."
"I want to thank you all for your help here," I said. "This world is very lucky to have all of you fighting on its behalf."
Before I could think of what else to say, Granberia appeared, in full armor with her mighty great sword. "Did I miss anything?" she asked, looking around frantically.
"Wow, Granberia," Tamamo said. "Just how long did it take you to get into that armor? Now I can see why you used to keep it on all the time."
"Does that mean the threat has already been dealt with?" Granberia asked. "I apologize for taking so long. Saja, you're bleeding!"
"It is nothing," Saja assured her. "Just a tooth. It will grow back."
"Right now, in a world far from ours, a man is waking up and wondering why his penis is bloody," Minagi said.
"You beat him that way?" Granberia asked. "I had thought you to be a warrior!"
"I am," Saja said. "They were too powerful, even for us. Only pleasure attacks were effective. It is good that you were spared having to fight that way."
"I would have done what was necessary," Granberia said. "I am a monster, after all. I like semen too. I've just preferred to keep that out of my fighting. Pleasure attacks are for after the battle. Luka, you are unhurt?"
"I'm fine," I said, then realized it was a lie. I was bruised pretty badly from the pummeling I'd taken. I tried to heal myself. The results weren't what I hoped for, but most of the pain went away, leaving only the ugly bruises.
Fighting alongside the Ancestors seemed to have given them a new respect for me that even fighting against them had not earned. Saja had already been fully on board with helping, but the other four also pledged their readiness to provide any assistance needed to help save their world.
Alice returned the next morning, in time for us to have breakfast together. She'd missed me, so we decided to have our conference in bed. I was really getting to enjoy having most of my meetings in beds.
"So what did you find out from Micaela?" I asked.
"If we're reviving Ilias, she wants to be present," Alice replied. "She said it was best to do it in heaven, with herself and Eden there to greet Ilias upon her return. I don't like it, you alone in heaven with just Micaela and Eden between you and Ilias, but I trust Micaela. She says that Ilias shouldn't cause trouble. Especially since she'll need your power to heal the world. It's what comes after that that has her worried."
"We brought the Six Ancestors and the angels back without any problems so far," I noted. "Hopefully Ilias is reborn with a different way of thinking."
"I love your optimism," Alice said. I wasn't sure if she was patronizing me or genuinely hopeful.
Our room started to rumble and shake. A small earthquake?
"Alice, do we get earthquakes here?" I asked.
"Sometimes," she replied, but her expression indicated worry. "Hellgondo gets them from time to time. We're safe here. This castle is reinforced both physically and with magic. It had to be, because sometimes the earthquakes here get severe. It's been a few years, though."
The rumbling subsided. Alice breathed a sigh of relief and began kissing my chest. "I guess you'll go look for that final ring tomorrow," she said. "Honestly, I didn't expect it to go this easily."
"The hard part comes afterwards," I reminded her. "We don't even know how to fix what's wrong with the world. We're just hoping Ilias does."
"Promestein hasn't discussed it with you, but she has a few radical ideas of her own," Alice said. "If Ilias can't or won't do it, we try one or more of those ideas. One idea she had was to take a chance on cutting the links between our world and all other worlds."
"So all of those rifts, they only come from worlds we're connected to?"
"That's what Promestein said," Alice replied. "she's worried because she doesn't know if a universe is supposed to be floating free like that. We didn't even know there were other universes until a few hundred years ago. We only acquired most of the knowledge we have now in the last thirty years, trying to figure out how to get you back. You see the consequences of messing around with such fundamental forces."
"We solve one problem, create a new one," I observed glumly.
"Welcome to the big leagues," Alice said, appropriating a term from my world. As much as she didn't like my world's vernacular, she couldn't help but to adopt some of her own favorites. "At our level, we're constantly dealing with problems of worldwide sco-"
She paused and seemed to be listening to something. Telepathic message?
"Get up!" Alice ordered. "Put something on! We're going to Yamatai!"
"What is it?"
"That little rumbling for us was a much bigger earthquake on northeast Sentora!"
The scene at Yamatai was one of utter disaster. The only saving grace was that Yamatai Village didn't have tall buildings to collapse onto people. Nevertheless, there were fires everywhere. Humans and monsters ran to and fro rescuing as many people as they could. Using my wind mastery, both Sylph-fueled and my own synthetic version, I raced around pulling people out of trouble. Where heavy objects had fallen on people, I used my earth mastery to remove the weights that pinned helpless victims.
I worked for several hours. Fortunately, I had a lot of help. Kitsunes, using their own earth mastery, were clearing debris to get at victims with great efficiency. Lamias were naturally powerful and could reach small children with their long tails. Cat girls demonstrated incredible agility, bouncing from debris pile to debris pile, yet never disturbing any of it as they searched for survivors.
I was happy to see that supplementing my spirit powers with my own power didn't drain it much. Even after several hours, I still had most of it at my disposal. I wouldn't get a chance to use it, however, at least not for rescue. Alice and Tamamo located me and told me that I had a more vital job to do.
"Disasters like this are happening all over the world!" Alice said. "It almost certainly has to do with the rifts!"
"Grangold reported tornados that aren't made up of wind, but instead make everything they touch just vanish!" Tamamo said. "Enrika reported that gravity is weakening in their area. People are floating around if they can't hold onto something! More earthquakes in Edenburg, Sabasa, and Grand Noah! Worst of all, Granberry and Port Natalia have reported numerous rifts. And Niko and Neris are having all kinds of trouble closing them!"
"We'll do our best to coordinate rescue operations!" Alice said. "Nero and Neris are already in Granberry working on closing those rifts. You need to go to heaven and pray that the last ring is there! If it is, waste no time! Bring Ilias back right away!"
"Okay, I'll need a lift," I said, not wanting to try to teleport to such an unfamiliar location by myself.
Alice nodded and grabbed me. In an instant, I was at the gate of heaven. She gave me a quick kiss, then reconsidered and gave me a longer hug.
"If this doesn't work," she told me. "This might be the last time we see each other. I'm going to go and save as many people as I can. When you're finished, succeed or fail, please come back to me. If we're all going to die, I want to die with you."
"I love you, Alice," I said. "If the ring isn't there, I'm cutting this world off from the rest of the multiverse. It's the best chance we have."
"I have faith in you, Luka," Alice replied. "I know you didn't come all the way back here just to die with us."
With that, she vanished, off to go who knew where. Wasting no time, I knocked on the gates. It seemed the polite thing to do, since last time I had been here I'd charged right in behind Alice, whose idea of knocking had been to splinter the very gates of heaven with one punch. No one answered. I cautiously opened the gates. They were unlocked. Did Eden have an open door policy? Nevertheless, I chose to be cautious. I had not technically been invited. The denizens might not take kindly to a human invading their home, even if my intentions weren't hostile.
Heaven appeared basically unchanged since I had last been there. Strangely, it also seemed to be just as deserted. I knew that could be deceiving. We'd thought it deserted when we invaded more than thirty years ago, and then ilias had ambushed us with hundreds of angels. Unless some sort of disaster had hit here as well?
Thankfully, I did come across angels after a few minutes of wandering around aimlessly. I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to just call to Eden, who last time I had been on this world had always responded instantly. I guess it had just been awhile. Don't worry, I was about to be reminded.
The angels I encountered were familiar to me. Cupid, who carried her bow and arrow as always, and Valkyrie, who wielded her mighty sword. Both of these angels had been sealed in the very first minutes of the war against Ilias, and then set free only days later from their imprisonment in the enchanted sword Angel Halo.
"Luka!" Cupid said in surprise. "What brings you here? Is this about the trouble on the surface?"
"I hope that means you're not having problems up here in heaven," I replied. "But yes, I'm here in search of a ring. I've already got four, and with the fifth I can hopefully fix all this."
"Does this ring have a name?" Valkyrie asked.
"They are called the Rings of Brocia," I answered.
"Hmmmm…" Valkyrie responded. "Come with me. I know of a place where we keep some magic items that haven't been successfully identified. I've never heard of this Ring of Brocia, but perhaps it's among that small collection."
I followed the two angels to a small outcropping of foliage. I'd never seen any actual houses or buildings in heaven, so I always wondered where angels lived. Did they just float around? Since Eden had taken over, small buildings of wood and vegetation seemed to have been constructed.
The two beckoned me inside. It was a small room with shelves containing items that didn't appear impressive at all. Then again, the rings didn't look that impressive either. To outward appearances, they looked like glorified mood rings that a child could win at the carnival by popping balloons with darts. Valkyrie pointed to a chest on the ground.
"It's open," Cupid said. "We don't need to lock anything up here. Just us angels, after all. Completely trustworthy, that's us!"
I bent down to open the chest. It was empty. Before I could turn to ask them if perhaps someone had been up here that they couldn't trust, I was pantsed. Before I could react, I was placed in a strong hold by Valkyrie. I prepared to summon Gnome in order to break the hold, but I was less panicked and more confused.
"What are you doing?!" I asked.
"Oh, you see," Valkyrie whispered into my ear. "We really want to help you, but first there's this little thing about a grudge."
Pain shot through my entire body as something was shoved into my ass. With a roar of indignation I threw Valkyrie off. I turned around to see Valkyrie's sword drawn and Cupid pointing an arrow at me. I reached behind me, and pulled one of those arrows out of my butthole. Taking it out was even more painful than having it shoved in.
Cupid shot another arrow. I caught it out of the air and fired back with a small bolt of my own magic. It knocked her back, although she held onto her bow and began to nock another arrow. Valkyrie tried to flank me. I fired a small bolt at her as well, which was underpowered, as it only caused her to back off.
"Does Eden know you're doing this?" I asked threateningly. "Do you even know how out of your league you two are right now?"
Before we could get into it in earnest, Eden appeared in the middle of the room. "Luka!" she yelled happily, and rushed to embrace me. "What's going on here? Why did you invoke my name? Where have you been all these years?"
"Ummmm… we were just helping him find a ring that he's looking for," Cupid said sweetly.
"We thought it might be in this room," Valkyrie added.
Eden reached behind me, her fingers softly probing my anus. A warm, healing touch relieved the pain wherever she touched. The arrow had gone deep, however.
"Luka, have you missed me?" Eden asked.
"Very much," I said. "I'd almost forgotten how good your touch felt."
"I'm glad you like my touch so much, because….." she kissed me deeply at the same time as her fingers thrust into my rectum. My eyes opened wide in surprise, but the kiss was more intoxicating than the probing. She continued the kiss long after her fingers withdrew from me, leaving my butt as good as new.
"Pardon me for that," Eden said. "I've missed you as well, so couldn't resist taking small liberties. As apparently two of my angels did."
Valkyrie and Cupid flinched under Eden's glare. "Um…. Yes," Cupid said brightly. "We missed Luka so much! We thought he enjoyed butt play! We just wanted to surprise him!"
"Yes, and I assume that one of the mightiest swords ever forged was also going to be part of this 'butt play'," Eden said skeptically. "Luka, do you have Angel Halo with you? Since these two angels enjoy sticking things up rear ends, perhaps they'd like you to reciprocate?"
At the mention of Angel Halo, the two broke down, begging for mercy , coming clean about all they had planned to do.
"We weren't going to hurt him badly, honest!" Cupid pleaded. "We were even going to help him find what he was looking for! We didn't lie about that! We just wanted to settle a little score first, that's all!"
"We are more than satisfied," Valkyrie added. "he has been appropriately chastened for his crimes against us."
"We shall discuss this later," Eden said. "You were freed from your imprisonment precisely because your former enemies decided to drop old grudges. It appears you have been unable to demonstrate the same level of maturity. We are supposed to be better than the surface dwellers, not emulate their pettiness. Now begone, the both of you!"
Cupid and Valkyrie hastily left the small outcropping, leaving Eden and me alone. "So," Eden said. "What is it that you seek? I assume it's something you need to save the world?"
"Pretty much," I answered, grinning wryly. "Isn't that always what's going on?"
"Let us hope this is the last time," she replied. "You deserve better than to always be risking your life. As the self proclaimed goddess of this world, I will assist you in any way that I can. Although I feel less than godlike in the presence of this disaster. Should not a god be able to save her own world?"
"That's why I need the last ring," I explained. "The five rings of Brocia allow the one who wields them to control all of the holy and dark energies in the universe. I intend to reconstitute Ilias."
"You can do that?" Eden asked, shocked. "Well then, what are we waiting for? This is an incredible day! Ilias is returning!"
"You know where the ring is?"
"Of course I know where heaven's Ring of Brocia is!" Eden scoffed. "Lucifina herself brought it to heaven, while Saja kept one for the Dark God. The other three were scattered all over the world. With such power, gods could be destroyed with but a thought!"
"I thought that normal humans couldn't wield all that energy without being consumed?"
"A normal human cannot, no," Eden conceded. "But there was always the fear that someone powerful, such as either Ilias or Alipheese, or a Seraph, or an Ancestor, or even a lesser being with enough intelligence could design a way to manage all that energy! They could have become a god themselves!"
"Could a Monster Lord be strong enough to manage those energies?" I asked.
"Certainly," Eden replied. "although your own unique power makes you a far more ideal candidate. I heard that you once absorbed a large amount of Ilias' power and reflected it back at her, with no strain on your own body. Your wife or I could probably do that, but we'd pay a price for it. Now come, let us waste no more time."
Eden grabbed me and teleported me into the most lovely building I had ever seen. This was no building constructed of plants. It was the a grand throne room, awe inspiring in its majesty. Alice's paled in comparison.
"You are the first human to see the Throne of Heaven," Eden announced. "I can think of no better place for Ilias to be reborn. She will take her throne back, save the world, and then this world will enter a new utopia."
I was taken aback at Eden's continued faith in Ilias. Could I count on her if this went south? I remembered that Micaela was supposed to be here with me as well, but in our rush to get this done in the face of worldwide disasters, there had been no time to fetch her.
Eden went to a chest near the throne, almost in the same place Alice kept her own chest. I would have to ask Alice if I could open hers and see if she, like a counterpart of hers I had encountered on an early jump to an alternatve world, kept the ribbon I had bought her so many years ago inside it. Eden's chest contained a more practical artifact: the fifth Ring of Brocia. She brought it to me and proudly placed it on my thumb, with some difficulty.
"Now, do you know how to use them?" Eden asked.
"Um, I guess I don't. Is it just a matter of willing it to do what I want?"
"Mostly," Eden replied. "the rings respond to your will to do this one job. The individual rings' powers are more passive. Now remember, you only want to control holy energy. Fortunately, that's all the energy there is in heaven. You need a lot to bring back Ilias, but even Ilias was only comprised of a small fraction of the world's holy energy. A larger portion gives life to all humans. And yet there is still ten times more holy energy than that! Simply will yourself to absorb some of the ambient holy energy in this throne room."
I closed my eyes and did as Eden instructed. I could feel the holy energy enter my body. It felt.. good. Comforting.
"Ah, I see it within you," Eden said approvingly. "Already you contain far more of it than any normal human could. It is not enough, however. Take in more, from outside."
I pulled more into me. There was still no strain, but I could swear that my awareness was increasing. Was it an illusory effect, akin to using a drug and thinking you were smarter?
"Just a little bit more," Eden said. "I know every detail of my goddess. I know precisely how much holy energy she was made of."
I brought in a little bit more and then some. Still no strain. This was going well so far. Eden had also comforted me by letting me know that this same power to recreate Ilias could also destroy her in an instant if she became hostile.
"You have more than enough now," Eden said, now becoming almost giddy. "Now, all you have to do to recreate Ilias is to place it outside your body and compress it, as if it was carbon being turned into diamond. Compressed holy energy creates sentient holy beings, their power varying based on how much holy energy was put into their creation. You have enough to create a god."
I used the rings to channel the energy outside my body, into a formless blob that was nevertheless almost as bright as a sun. I had to close my eyes and turn away as I worked. Once all of the energy was outside my body, I begin willing the rings to compress it, to force the photons, or atoms, or whatever holy energy was made up of, into a tighter and tighter mass. Eden grew increasingly excited.
"You're doing it! You're doing it! Oh, Luka, I never thought you could make me happier than you've already made me! There is nothing I will ever deny you! Nothing! I'm sure that my goddess will feel the same!"
I wasn't as hopeful, but I prayed that she was right. I wonder if she heard me? She'd heard my silent prayers before. One prayer, however, was answered. When the brightness died down and I opened my eyes, there before me stood Ilias. Her expression was neutral. No, actually, her expression was blank. She just stared at me uncomprehendingly.
"Ilias?" Eden said, turning Ilias to face her. "Ilias, it's your loyal Seraph! Eden! We've restored you! What is your command, ilias?"
Ilias opened her mouth to speak, but only a croak came out. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Eden?" she said feebly. "Am I mad at you?"
"I may have disappointed you when last I saw you, yes," Eden said regretfully. "But I have taken good care of your angels and the heavens while you've been gone. The world is a wonderful place now! Everyone lives in peace and happiness! It's what we've always wanted! Luka helped to make that happen!"
She turned Ilias around to stare back at me. "See? Luka! Remember Luka?" Eden said helpfully.
Ilias' expression hardened when she took her second look at me. "I am definitely mad at you," Ilias grunted. "I just wish I could remember why."
Eden started to explain, but I cut her off. "Ilias," I began. "we need you. The world is about to be destroyed and only you can save it."
"World's going to be destroyed?" Ilias asked. "How? Did you break something, Luka?"
"I'm not really sure, maybe I am partly responsible. That's a discussion for later. Dimensional rifts are opening up all over the world, and now they are starting to cause disasters. Only you can heal the world!"
"Ohhhhhh…." Ilias said, seeming to understand, although still seeming more than a little loopy. "You humans have been screwing around with science stuff, haven't you? Isn't this world enough? Why do you want to travel to other worlds? Wait, did I travel to another world? I don't remember. Does it have something to do with why I'm mad at you?"
"I don't know, Ilias," I said. "Please, there's not much time! Heal the world and we'll talk about all this when you're done. If the universe implodes, you die with it!"
"The universe ain't gonna implode, silly!" Ilias admonished drunkenly. "It's gonna start to implode, and then kablooey! Biggest boom ever! Remains'll be scattered across millions of other universes!"
"Is she going to be all right?" I asked Eden. "Time's critical here, how long before she fully recovers her senses?"
"I don't know," Eden replied, gesturing helplessly. "I've never witnessed a god revived before. Could be minutes, could be centuries!"
"Ilias, I need you to focus!" I said, putting my hands on her shoulders. "Only you can save the world! You have to clear your mind, think only about that."
"No, no, no…." Ilias mumbled. "Saving the world's your job. You're the big hero. Why you bring me back jus' to do your job for you? You're so lazy! I think that's why I'm mad at you. Go 'way! Save the world while I take a nap."
"Ilias, I can't save the world!" I objected.
"Why not?" Ilias replied. "You got the power. Use the power."
"That's the problem!" I explained. "It's not a matter of just blasting the rifts! If it was that simple I could have done that long ago! This takes a god's level of intellect! I can help you by using my power as you direct, but only you have the godlike omniscience to truly see what's going on! I only have my five human senses!"
"You moron," Ilias chuckled. "you got the rings. Just…. Take in all the energy. All of it. Then you're a god, too."
"I already explained, it's not about power! I don't have your omniscience!"
"Cuz you don't have the power," Ilias said, now beginning to nod off on her feet, forcing Eden to hold her up. "Get the power, you get the omnis… imniz… science or something."
"Luka, I think I know what she's talking about!" Eden said. "omniscience stems from a god's holy or dark energy! If you take as much of the holy and dark energies into you as you can, you'll be just like Ilias or the Dark God! Perhaps even more powerful, since you can wield both! Ilias has helped you! That's the answer! Now go!"
I returned to subspace with a thought, barely even realizing that I hadn't even bothered to use the device Promestein had made for that purpose. Maybe the extra holy energy I had did in fact make me smarter! I surveyed the scene. Like cancerous tumours, the dimensional rifts were consuming the world. Promestein had been right. This was not the kind of job that could be done just by wishing it done. The forces at work were too powerful, my energy reserves not up to the task. Even if they were, I could never have done more than treat the symptoms. I could probably have closed the rifts one by one, but the time for attempting that had long since passed. There were just too many. The cancer had spread too far.
As Eden had instructed, I tried to sense the holy and dark energies surrounding the world. Those energies belonged to the great circle of life on this world. Monsters were born from the dark energies, humans from the holy energies. When they died, those energies were returned to the universe. I needed every bit of that power to have a chance. Floating above the astral representation of my adopted world, I stretched out my arms and began drawing it all into me.
I expected the feeling to hurt, to stretch me to my limits. My body was still human, after all. But my body wasn't absorbing it. My strange alien power was doing all the work, mine to command as it always had been. I couldn't believe that I hadn't realized this sooner. I had done something like this when Ilias had tried to kill me, the first time I had ever consciously used my power. I had easily held both Ilias' power and my own, and sent it back to her. This was more than that. Yet my body never seemed to strain. If anything, I began to feel like the god Gabriella and Alipheese had insisted I could be. The rapid increase in power gave me even more awareness. I could see individual lives on the surface. I knew all of their names, their past, their present, their possible futures. I even saw the dead, Alma Elma, Lucifina, Alice's mother, placing their hopes in me, willing me to succeed and save the loved ones they had left behind.
I had become a god. This was not a statement of arrogance, or the euphoria of power. It had merely become a fact. I had absorbed nearly all the free dark and light energy in the world. There was nothing I couldn't do. I saw exactly what I had to do to save this world.
The problem wasn't Promestein's attempts to bring me back. The problem had been taking Alipheese away from this world, or at least that had been the tipping point. Over the centuries, dark energy had been destroyed by heroes, causing an imbalance to slowly develop between the world's holy and dark energy. This particular world required such a balance to remain stable. Taking Alipheese and her large amount of dark energy out of this universe had made the situation much more serious. Had I never returned, everyone I knew would have died. Had I not been nearly omniscient at the time, I would have shuddered at the thought, but since I was almost godlike in my omniscience, I simply understood that everything that had happened had been part of a grand design. I was about to fulfill my part in that design.
With the satisfaction that a deity of creation must feel when he creates his masterpiece, I released everything, my power, all of the holy energy, all of the dark energy. It circled the world and mixed together, forming an entirely new kind of energy. Neither dark, nor holy, nor even alien. It felt natural to this world, like a new outfit that you never wore, but once you put it on it seemed like it had always been made just for you. This world was being transformed into what it had always meant to be
A new balance had been created. The dimensional rifts began to close. The world began to heal. As the power left me, my awareness began to fade. The five rings' gems, having channeled more power at once than they could tolerate, faded into a dull gray. The dead smiled at me with approval. I had done well. They promised to honor me when I entered their world. But not today, they assured me. They said as one, You must live to see the new world you have created.
Before I lost consciousness, I heard Alma Elma's voice and felt her hand in mine.
"Come, Luka! It's time for you to go home!"
I woke up, on the surface, looking up at trees. This looked very familiar. Could I have come down near my adopted hometown? How had I survived the fall? I lay still for a time, checking fingers and toes and seeing if I could move. I could, painfully.
It wasn't long before I saw a face peering over mine. It was not Alice. It was Promestein. She had an instrument of some sort. She checked the readings and spoke to someone nearby.
"He's alive," she said. "I think he'll be all right, although there might be some broken bones."
Suddenly I saw Alice's face over mine. "Where am I?" I asked.
"Near Luka Village," Alice replied, laughing. "This is about the exact place I landed, so long ago."
"Did we win?" I asked groggily.
"We did," Alice said, smiling softly, then looked to Promestein. "We did win, right?"
"I think so," the scientist confirmed. "the world will never be the same again, but Luka saved us all. It'll be many years before we know the true implications of what he did. All of that power inside him is gone. He'll never possess it again. It's part of this world, now. There's no more light or darkness. Just…. Luka. Congratulations, Luka! You became a god! A real one!"
"Didn't you say I lost my power, though?" I asked, trying to rise and regretting it.
"You did," Promestein confirmed. "But you gained something even better. This whole world has been remade in your image. A piece of who you are will be in the DNA of every being born on this world. In a way, every being born from this moment on, from the most powerful monsters, to the lowliest microbes, will be your children. How does it feel?"
"I… have no idea," I wheezed. "You'll have to explain that one to me in more detail later."
When I unsteadily made it to my feet, Alice embraced me. "Don't ever leave me again, do you hear?" she warned.
"It doesn't bother you that I'm weak, now?" I asked. Even the spirits had left me. My special power must have been what made me strong enough to use the spirits, even when I didn't know how to use my power. From this day forward, I would be a completely ordinary guy. An ordinary guy married to the most powerful being on this planet, the Monster Lord.
"I'll love you even though you're weak if you love me even though I'm fat," she said, laughing. "Besides, we keep telling you, you've always been strong in the ways that matter."
"So can we go home now?" I asked. "I could really use a healer or twelve."
"Right away," Alice said, preparing to teleport me back to the castle. "Get your rest, and heal up. Tamamo is going to want to arrange the biggest party this world has ever seen!"