When I awoke, I couldn't tell where I was.
I looked around and saw a beautiful room decorated with paintings and statues of a woman in a military uniform.
The paintings all depicted a similar scene. Ruined landscapes and destroyed cities. All of which had been reduced to complete rubble and ashes.
Some paintings even depicted massacres...
The room was lit with a deep red light.
I sat up in the bed I had been lying in and held my chest.
The heart stone had likely been cracked, so it hurt quite a bit since it was part of my body...
Additionally, my clothes and armor were missing. I was wearing a black and red yukata, instead.
"Where the hell am I...?" I said quietly.
"You're awake! At last!" A woman's voice said.
I nearly jumped in fright as I turned and saw a familiar white-haired woman peering at me from the side of the bed.
She wore a loose-fitting evening gown and had her hair down. In the red light, she seemed quite beautiful...
Or she would have been, if I hadn't immediately recognized her.
One of her eyes was still pitch black, but it was definitely Eris.
I immediately tried to punch her.
But...
All I should manage was a light tap on her cheek.
"Huh? Oh...is this your idea of foreplay? I like it!"
Oh gods no. Not another one. Absolutely not. I'm not accepting another crazy woman into my bed! Especially not this one!!!
She grabbed my hand in hers and smiled wide.
From here, I could see that her teeth were as sharp as daggers. Like that of some kind of shark.
"Oooh...how many people have you killed with this hand? Tell me!" She said.
I pulled my and away and glared at her.
"Leave me alone, you monster!!! Let me go!" I said angrily.
"Hmm...no. I worked hard to catch you, I'm not gonna do that. Besides, we have a lot of things to do before you can leave, anyway."
What the hell is she saying?
"I don't plan to do ANYTHING with you. All I want is to see you die horribly!!!"
"Awww! Wait, that would be so cool!!! I would be all like...BLAM! SQUISH!!! SPLAT!!!! BOOM!!!!"
Oh. She's definitely crazy...
"What...?"
"Ah, my bad. I haven't properly introduced myself. Ahem..." She climbed into the bed and sat with her legs crossed right in front of me. Then she placed her hand over her chest. "I am Eris, Avatar of Destruction and supreme ruler of the Destruction realm. Also...I am the Destroyer's number one fan!"
GODS DAMN IT ALL!!!
"Fan...? A FAN!? SINCE WHEN DO I HAVE FANS!? AND WHY WOULD A FAN OF MINE TRY TO KILL ME AND BLOW UP MY SHIP!?"
"RIGHT!? THAT WAS SO COOL! I MISSED, BUT IT STILL WENT BOOOOM!!! CRASH!!! POW!!!! KYAAAA!!! SO COOL!!!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU DERANGED WOMAN!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME!?!?"
"Ah...well...hmmm... The Destroyer is like, the ultimate person thingy that breaks people and worlds. And you are the strongest version of anyone taking that title. Every time I hear of someone going around and using that name, I lure them here and test them. I didn't have to do that this time. Also, you're the first one that passed the physical test. Woohoo!!! You get a gold star!"
"That doesn't answer my question. What do you want?"
"I wanna watch you break stuff and kill people."
"Is that all?"
"Yep. That about covers it."
The amount of frustration I had at this point was starting to boil over.
"THEN WHY WAS IT NECESSARY TO BLOW UP MY SHIP AND KILL MY ALLIES!?!?"
"They were annoying me. I can't test you if your weird friends keep interfering. Speaking of which...what happened to that guy with the funny eyes?"
"Vengeance? He's just a manifestation of my sword's power. The one you broke, by the way... How the hell did you break it!?"
The memory flooded back to me as I spoke and I pulled out Vengeance on instinct.
The blade was still broken...
"Ugh... What did you do to my sword!?"
"I don't know what you mean. I destroyed it. Just like with any other thing. Although that sword seems more resilient than most stuff. Anyway, who cares about that!? I get to hang out with my hero!" Eris said.
She tackled me and rubbed her face on my chest.
"Let go of me..."
"We're gonna break so many things! We'll commit massacres and kill so many people! We'll be best friends!"
She really is completely insane. She has no idea that I don't do those things for enjoyment...mostly...
She sat up and moved her face inches from mine.
"Everythjng's gonna be like BLAM!! BOOM!!! POW!!! CRASH!!! SPLAT!!!" She said with a wide smile.
She hopped off of me and got to her feet.
"C'mon, let's go! I wanna show you my fortress!"
I slowly climbed out of bed and looked at the black and red yukata I was wearing.
"Uhh...when did..."
"I had my servants change you after we arrived. Your armor is in my wardrobe. You can get it later, okay? We aren't leaving yet."
"Whatever..."
Eris walked over to her wardrobe and opened it. I saw my armor hanging up nicely next to her uniform.
...and then she took her clothes off and started changing in front of me.
Zero shame. Anyway...I need to get out of here...
My eyes wandered away from Eris and over to her balcony doors.
I approached and opened them, then walked outside.
The scenery was breathtaking and confusing...
We weren't even on the ground. Far from it, actually. This place seemed to be a gigantic fortress in the shape of a crimson moon. It also seemed to serve as the only source of light for this realm.
Down below, I could see a vast desert of black sand. On occasion, there were ruins that could be seen of ancient buildings and attempts to build civilization.
But everything was so dark that it was difficult to tell...
"Enjoying the view?" Eris asked.
She had finished getting dressed and stood wearing the same uniform and hat as before.
"I guess so... There isn't anything stopping me from jumping off, though."
"Nope. But if you did, I would just grab you and bring you back. Now, how about we get going? I have a lot of stuff I wanna show you!"
"Do I get a say in it...?"
"Not in the slightest!" She said with a smile.
I sighed and turned to her.
"Lead the way..."
She began walking and I followed closely behind.
Out in the halls, I saw strange monsters akin to phantoms patrolling around alongside maids and butlers dressed in red and black uniforms. The phantoms were cloaked in a black aura.
They had an extremely menacing presence.
"Ah, are you curious about my soldiers? They're called the withered army. I rarely use them for anything, but they're nice to have as guards!" Eris said proudly.
"Do you even need guards?"
"Nah, they're mostly for decoration. Nobody would be stupid enough to break in here. Well, they'd also have to be able to fly and that isn't normal."
"..."
"C'mon, let's go! I want you to meet my mom and her sister!"
Eris grabbed my arm and dragged me along until we came to a throne room. It was just as lavishly beautiful as the rest of this place.
Many withered guards stood at attention nearby and a throne sat at the end of the room.
This throne, however, was seated on the same level of the ground as we were. Likely a sign of respect to Eris, who was apparently considered their superior.
In the throne, there was a pale woman with white hair and silver eyes. She looked small and frail, yet couldn't have been older than twenty-five.
She wore a black robe with white accents on it. There was a crown atop her head as well. It seems that the metal was also black with white diamonds decorating it.
It gave her a mysterious air in the red light of this horrid place...
She gazed at me with zero emotion on her face.
"Hey mom! Where's aunt Rena?" Eris said.
"You are cheerful today... Who is this young man?" Eris' mother said calmly.
If that's her mother, she must be part of this covenant as well. She's probably ancient...
"I'll answer that in a sec. Where's Rena?" Eris said.
"High priestess Rena is attending to her duties. The Warden of Destruction stopped by since you left. She was communing with him until recently. She will return shortly."
"Great! Tell her to come soon, okay? I want to introduce this guy and I won't repeat myself."
Her mother tapped the side of her head and nodded.
"High priestess Rena was already aware of your trip to this room. She will be here-"
The doors opened all of a sudden and another woman walked in.
She looked...almost completely identical to Eris' mother.
The only difference was the color of her clothing.
Her robe was white with black accents and the crown was made of silver with onyx stones decorating it.
"Greetings, beloved Avatar of Destruction, Eris. And I wish to humbly greet Queen Rina, of the Destruction realm," Rena said with no emotion.
Rena and Rina? They're identical twins...
"What's going on here?" I asked.
They ignored me.
"Mom, aunt Rena, I would like you to meet the only person to ever pass my test. The Destroyer of Worlds, Mizik Iratus!" Eris said proudly.
"Ooooh..." Rena and Rina said in unison.
The two walked over and surrounded and buzzed around me.
They were quite small, so I found it odd that Rina had given birth to such a...voluptuous daughter.
Eris was very well endowed, but her mother and aunt looked vastly different.
"What are your intentions with my daughter?" Queen Rina said.
"Hopefully, I get to kill her for what she did to me. She shot down my ship and hurt my wives. Then killed one of my allies," I said bluntly.
"He is brave..." Rena said.
"A man worthy of respect..." Rina said.
"Hold on a moment. Eris, don't you have a father?" I said.
"I did about four thousand years ago. He wasn't affected by the covenant for some reason. He was weak, so he died. My aunt was blessed instead. So the two of them raised me."
I should have expected this...
"Oh, I almost forgot. This is Rena, the high priestess. She's nice, but sucks at cooking. And this is my mom, the Queen. Her name is Rina and she's much better at cooking."
"You judge them on how well they cook...?"
"Uh-huh. That's the second most important thing behind killing people and blowing things up. Making delicious food. Can you cook?"
"I suppose so. I'm a decent chef."
"Aha! See? He's pretty cool, right?" Eris said.
"So cool..." Rina said.
"Manly man..." Rena said.
"Uh..."
I wasn't sure what to say here. These people were certainly very strange...
"Mister Iratus, I approve of you marrying my daughter," Rina said.
"No," I said without hesitation.
"Huh!? Marriage!? Why would I wanna do something lame like that? Boooooring!" Eris said angrily.
"Why refuse...?" Rena said.
"Because I hate her, maybe? I would rather execute Eris and be done with it. I'm not interested. She has interfered far too much already."
"So sad...so sad... I don't get to have a nephew..." Rena said.
"No grandchildren for me..." Rina said.
Both of them were pulling on my clothes now.
"Hey...become my son," Rina said.
"Nepheeeeww..." Rena said.
"Let go of me, you weirdos..."
I sighed angrily and they backed away.
"Uwaaaa... He got angry..." Rina said.
"So scary..." Rena said.
"You two need to behave yourselves. I don't wanna marry Mizik. I want something completely different."
"And that is...?"
I looked at her suspiciously.
What could she possibly want from me?
"First, a test. How do you feel about this?" Eris said as she held up the dormant Eye of War.
"Useless to me. Why do you ask?"
"Huh...useless? The power of the Avatar of War is pretty great, yeah? Master weapons with ease, a rage aura, super strong weapons... Uh-huh. Awesome, right?"
"Useless. I already have a power that lets me do all of that and more."
She seemed surprised but intrigued.
"It's called an Ultra Aspect. A divine power granted by a goddess through a modified dragon contract."
"Oh... Well, what do you think about this, then?" Eris said as she pointed to her Eye of Destruction.
"I'm interested, to say the least. A power that lets you touch Valtheim without being consumed by the Void...on top of giving you such insane amounts of power in general."
"Good! You'll have plenty of time to get acquainted with my power then."
"What is that supposed to mean? What are you really after...?"
"You haven't figured it out yet? Well, I plan to make you my successor. Soon...you'll be the new Avatar of Destruction. And I plan to fuse my soul to yours in the process. I'll be part of you, Mizik... I'll get to watch my hero destroy everything! I'LL GET A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO THE CARNAGE!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Oh...damn it all...