"You want me to ask one of those who killed my mother for help?!" Turning to Senka, I raise my voice angrily. Everyone stops what they are doing and stare at me with baffled expressions, but I ignore them.
"I guess you haven't been paying attention in mythology class." The doll girl stays calm and responds without looking at me. She gestures for the maids to return to the center of the courtyard, and they reluctantly do as they are told while stealing glances at me.
"What do you mean by that?" Forcing myself to calm down, I'll see what she has to say. I doubt she would be so tactless as to suggest trying to team up with one of those responsible for the death of my mother - and everything going on between the humans and demons.
"Exla is the sister of Zenlith." Senka proceeds to explain, finally turning to look up at me with her large blue eyes. I shrink a little under her piercing gaze, as she is silently reproaching me for my flare of emotions. "They've had a really bad fight."
"Would she really help me though?" I'm skeptical because she must surely know that I'm kind of an enemy to all life on this planet. "Even if she had a fight with her brother, he's still her family. I could never imagine wanting to kill someone from my family, no matter how bad of an argument we had."
"Don't slack off now!" She calls out to Hestia and Dregana, who are at the very front and have been trying to eavesdrop on our conversation while acting like they're practicing magic. "Let's continue this inside... You should know the personalities of these self-proclaimed gods. They are children thinking in immature absolutes."
The second half was spoken through telepathy, and my lips curl into a smile at the thought that she changed over so casually, while at the same time gesturing at the maids to continue their training.
"So, where can I find Exla?" I sit down on a chair made from my tentacles and act like I'm watching the maids while responding to Senka in my mind.
"Well, judging by what you told me about your short time on the Dark Continent, you've seen her already." The doll girl crosses her arms and peers across the courtyard, where various kinds of spells fly into the sky and dissipate moments later. It's like a fireworks display.
"... the cloud?" Suppressing my urge to turn around and speak out loud, I look up into the sky instead. I fell through it - or into it - when I came back from the moon, then there was a booming voice and tendrils of fog threw me out into the open. "That was Exla?"
"Yeah, she's known as the Guardian of the Soil, but there's not really anything about her that makes her an earth god. The guardian part is true though since she's keeping her garden safe."
"The Dark Continent is her garden?"
"You encountered the living machines, didn't you? Those are one of the last remnants of the past age. Several wild animal species only exist over there, and Exla is their gamekeeper."
"So am I right in the assumption that she doesn't care about the world outside that place?" Scratching my chin, I lean back in my tentacle chair and look at the goddesses under the tree. Tokomaha is still asleep, and Tahiri has dozed off as well, while Aratio has disappeared to somewhere.
"She at least hasn't for the past thousand and a half years. She hasn't even left that continent in all that time." It sounds like Senka is thinking of her as a shut-in, and at the scale that these Old Humans operate in, calling an entire continent a place where someone shuts herself away on may even be appropriate.
"Then I'll go, I guess." Standing up and speaking out loud - enough for Hestia to hear me - I look down at the doll girl, who meets my gaze.
"Now?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, when else? Best not to waste any time." I'll take Tahiri with me since she's the only one who can keep up with me in terms of speed by turning into lightning. "Can you stay connected to me when I'm over on the Dark Continent?"
"No, I'll need to travel about halfway over there." Senka shrugs, but her expression tells me that she knows what I have in mind.
"Stay here, Hestia. I need you to relay through Senka if anything happens during my absence." I address the angel girl, who looks like she wants to come along. Even if she can fly, it's nowhere near the speed of a dragon, let alone the Chaos Warhead. She would only slow me down, and a trip that might take only a few hours would end up becoming a week-long journey.
"Thanks for asking whether I want to make the trip right now or not." Pouting a little, the doll girl turns her head away with a sour expression.
"I know you want to. Since you get to be very close to me for a while." Lifting her up, I cuddle her tightly.
"Stop that! Isn't that showing off?!" Pushing herself away from my breasts, she shouts in irritation. Even though she says she's an immortal, her heart is still a young girl's, who understands that she will never grow bigger; she will never look down to see a chest like mine on herself. "Keep those damned things away from me!"
She moves to slap them again, but I quickly hold her at arm's length. Since she's so much smaller than me, her short arms can't reach me at all. Then I press her against my chest again, before letting her sink into my body. She doesn't struggle and lets it happen, but clearly annoyed that I didn't give her a warning first.
"You can keep training for a while longer. Rewera, you will decide when everybody should return to their duties." I call out to the giant maid, who has been overseeing everything without taking part in the class herself.
"I understand, Chaos-sama." She replies with a bow and moves to the place where Senka had been standing in until now.
With that out of the way, I go over to the tree under which the two goddesses are lying next to each other. As I approach, Tokomaha's ear twitches and she wakes up to look at me sleepily while yawning like a cat. A shudder runs through her body, and her leaf hair rustles audibly as if a breeze blew through it.
"[Hm, where did Korenga go?]" She asks while looking around.
"[She left to reinforce another city.]" I'm reminded of how I broke her peace with my request, and suppress a frown. There will come a time when I can create a place in this world for her. "[You can go back to sleep, Tokomaha. I need Tahiri for this next one.]"
"[What do you need me for?]" The God of Storm seems to have awakened, and asks with a smile. She sounds really relaxed, so I feel bad for making her go all-out right after a nap. But I'd rather not meet with one of those Old Humans alone - even if I could most likely beat one if it's a duel.
And out of all the people here, she's the most powerful in both offense and defense, when it comes to facing an opponent who can turn a person's body into mist with a simple gesture. While Korenga is most likely able to survive anything physical thrown at her, I'm sure she can't reform from being scattered into a million pieces. Tokomaha, Aurelia, and especially Hestia would stand no chance.
"[We're going to talk to one of those self-proclaimed gods. I'd feel safer if you came with me.]" Speaking the truth, I return her smile with one of my own. It's to signal that I trust her with my life.
"[Even though I couldn't do anything against the last one?]" Tahiri floats up into the air lazily with an easygoing expression. While her words would suggest frustration at the fact that despite being one of the most powerful gods of Adanak she can't do anything here, her face doesn't show any of that. I know I wouldn't be able to remain so calm when asked to meet another one of those actually godlike gods.
"[That last one was special.]" Saying this is more to ease my mind rather than hers. Even though the pantheons supposedly don't have ranks, humans consider Zenlith the chief god. I'd rather believe he's far more powerful than any of the others, or I don't see any way of defeating them.
And we're going to meet his sister now.
"[If you say so.]" With a shrug, the God of Storm concludes the exchange. "[Let's go then. Lead the way.]"
"[Try to keep up with me.]" I grin at her as we both float up into the sky. While I say that, I'm sure lightning is faster than whatever speed I traveled at when I went to Pontis Daemonis earlier. She'll have to slow down for my sake.
When we gain enough altitude, I ask Senka for directions and to tell me where to let her off so that I can remain in contact with Hestia through her. Once I get my bearings, I signal for Tahiri to follow me, and shoot off towards the horizon at many times the speed of sound.
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Within less than ten minutes of flying at hypersonic speeds - crossing an ocean at one point - I reach a new landmass that Senka identifies as the Dark Continent for me. Last time I was here, I had been dropped off by Juzual and even had a brush with Exla without realizing it. Before that, I had been teleported here by accident, even though I was supposed to be sent elsewhere.
I come to a stop and look across the vast landscape opening up before me. How long will it take for me to find the giant cloud? While it's quite big, it still just resembles a cloud from afar.
Next to me, a lightning bolt strikes thin air and Tahiri emerges from it in her thundercloud appearance. The tattoos that are usually invisible on her white skin now glow brightly like lightning flashing through dark clouds. Her hair crackles and electricity arcs towards me, licking across my skin without causing any damage; I've been completely immune to it for a long time now.
"This is quite the large area. How will we find her?" I ask Senka in my mind. We stopped about halfway here and dropped her off near a small village. I made sure that the place wasn't in imminent danger of being attacked by a human army, and she told me she wouldn't meet anyone and just wait where I placed her.
"You'll have to think of something yourself. I could have helped out if I were there, but you wouldn't want to lose contact with the capital, would you?" She replies, making me realize once again that I still haven't gotten a good grasp on the doll girl's abilities. We never fought side by side before, though judging by her ninja-like ability to vanish into darkness, she must be more of an assassin type than someone made for straightforward combat.
Maybe if I cause a ruckus, Exla will come to find me. But then she'd most likely try to kill me or at least throw me off the continent. That would be a bad start when I want to ask for her help in defeating the other Old Humans.
"Wait, if Zenlith and Exla had a fight..." I suddenly think of something and turn to look at Tahiri. "[Can I trouble you to create a storm again?]"
"[Who do you think you're talking to?]" The God of Storm responds with a grin. Well, her title says it all.
"[Then follow me, we'll do it deeper inland.]" With these words, I shoot off again, expecting Tahiri to keep up with me in lightning form easily. While I can't see her when traveling at such a high velocity, she's been able to follow me since we left the capital. When I think about it, she's really powerful, isn't she?
Coming to a stop above a vast forest growing on rolling hills and small mountains, I look around to see whether Exla might be somewhere nearby. But considering the area I can cover with my vision is quite small, it would have been a real stroke of luck if I could have spotted her. Even though she's gigantic, easily towering over mountains that must be at least a thousand or so meters tall, it's still an insignificant size compared to an entire continent.
"[Here is fine.]" I say after Tahiri arrives, and she immediately increases her altitude to begin. Within moments, strong winds begin to whip around me and clouds gather above us, covering the sky. It grows significantly darker over a large area and lightning flashes through the thunderclouds.
I create a ring of eyes around my upper body so that I can look in every direction, keeping my vision on the horizon to make sure I spot Exla approaching. She won't be happy when she thinks that Zenlith has come here to look for trouble, so I'll need to meet her before she attacks.
Quite some time has passed without anything happening, and at one point Tahiri came back down, letting the storm rage on by itself. We're drinking from the last stores of the Oripiaw she brought from Aoranam village while waiting. Once she's out of the brew, she'll have to make do with what the demons have. After all, without a guide, she most likely won't be able to find her way to Adanak and then come back to Arkaim.
"[So, when will this self-proclaimed god come?]" Lifting the jug and finding only one drop coming out of it, the God of Storm asks with a frown. Considering she lived for such a long time she can be unexpectedly impatient, and it's strangely endearing.
"[I don't know, but I'm sure she can't just leave this alone.]" I reply and produce a jug from my stomach area. It's filled with rum from the Bakari clan, who are, according to their clan leader Markor, the foremost brewers of the Dominion.
"[What is this?]" Tahiri looks at the jug with both eyebrows raised, her eyes showing clear interest. I hand it over to her, and she pulls off the cork before sniffing the contents. "[That smells strong.]"
"[Like that has ever bothered you.]" I haven't tried the liquor myself, but I hope it's good since the goddess is quite the connoisseur when it comes to alcoholic beverages. She would frown at those served in the restaurants we ate at, and even I could tell that they were inferior to the Oripiaw brewed by Rangi.
"[My, this is a peculiar taste.]" After taking a sip, the God of Storm shows a positively surprised face. "[Where is this from?]"
"[I knew you would run out of Oripiaw soon enough, so I asked the clan leaders where I could get the best liquor in the Dominion. It was brewed by the Bakari clan; you know, those under the goat-faced old man.]" Since Tahiri hasn't joined our council before and only seen the clan leaders from afar, she doesn't know their names.
"[I think I'll meet him and praise his work.]" She gulps the rum down and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. Despite being a revered god, she doesn't follow etiquettes and try to keep up appearances of dignity - especially around me. I'm quite thankful to her that she would show her true side to me.
"[He would be honored to hear that the God of Storm likes it.]" I smile and take the jug as she returns it to me. Taking a sip from it myself, I do notice that it's quite strong, and burns in the throat, but has a tender, sweet note that lingers longer than the bitterness. I have no idea how they achieved that, but it's impressive.
"[Is that it?]" Tahiri suddenly points at the distance, and I look over in the direction. A massive towering cloud that travels over the ground rather than in the air is approaching us while its upper reaches disappears into the thunderclouds that the goddess beside me has summoned, dispersing them upon coming into contact with them.
"[Yeah...]" I let the jug sink into my chest and ready myself for battle. Even when I look at it from almost directly below the clouds, it still looks huge. If it reaches the height of a cumulonimbus, it would easily be taller than Mount Everest.
"Is that her?" I ask Senka in my mind, although there really is no doubt about it. The doll girl's astral body appears next to me, and while her expression is a neutral one, there is a faint sense of awe in the look she's giving the approaching cloud.
"Yes, that's Exla, the most powerful Old Human." She mutters in a grave tone, and my eyes go wide. The most powerful one? Even more so than Zenlith, whom I always considered the strongest of them solely based on the fact that his power seems to be having control over the very air itself?
"How much does a cloud weigh?" I suddenly feel compelled to ask. I don't think I could reach the size of that cloud even if I were to turn all of my mass into small dispersed particles like mist.
"What?" Senka turns to look at me with an eyebrow raised, wearing an expression that suggests I must have gotten my priorities wrong.
"How much mass do you think that cloud has? Could I fight it?" I think I should have a few thousand tons at my disposal.
"... don't even think about it. A cloud like that has about two million tons of mass." The doll girl crosses her arms and looks ahead grimly.
"Two mil-" My eyes go wide, and I yell out loud. Tahiri spins her head around in surprise, but I quickly wave at her to show that I'm fine.
But I'm really not. My puny mass could never compete with that literal force of nature coming towards us quickly. I feel like I'm spotting angry faces in the clouds, but they must be stemming from my imagination. Whatever the case, Exla is surely angry, believing that Zenlith has come looking for a fight.
Then a booming voice confirms it.
"Zeeenliiith! Whyyy haaave yooou cooome!" Due to her sheer size, the voice is produced over a large area, making it sound as if spoken in slow motion, even though it's at a relatively normal speed. It's far louder than what I have achieved with the dragon's throat, and the God of Storm holds her ears because of the overwhelming noise. The very air seems to be shaking under it.
"[Quick, stop the storm!]" I implore Tahiri, and she raises her hand to dispel the angry thunderclouds. But the massive cumulonimbus cloud that remains pristine white continues to approach us at an alarming pace.
"Exla, stop!" I bellow with an enhanced throat which causes Tahiri to cover her ears once again.
Unexpectedly, Exla does slow down and then comes to a stop. Due to her sheer size, I can't judge our distance to her, but she's covering almost my entire field of vision already. When I look up, there's still a lot more to her height, so we should be somewhere around the lower third of her body.
A massive face appears in the clouds and looks at the two tiny figures floating before it. Its features don't reveal whether they belong to a female or a male because they're just two crude eyes and a rift for a mouth.
"Whooo aaare yooou?" The voice is still as loud as a rolling thunder passing right by one's ears, but Exla seems to have calmed down a little, now that she realizes neither of us is her brother.
What should I tell her? I can't very well start by saying that I'm the princess of the demons and that I want to enlist her help. Considering she's been living here like a hermit for the past one and a half millennia, it wouldn't be surprising for her not to know anything about what's going on elsewhere right now either.
Whatever the case, I'll start by introducing myself first.
"I'm Kuroe Makoto." I give her my real name because I feel that saying Chaos here would be a bad idea. And Chloe Marcott doesn't fit with my current ethnicity since I've returned to sporting the physical appearance I had before my reincarnation.
"Maaakoootooo...?" The eyes of the face in the cloud go wide in evident surprise, before they disappear along with the mouth. Then, something like an arm extends from where the face was before, tiny in comparison to the whole cloud, but still huge compared to us.
From the center of that arm, a pure white figure seemingly made of fog rises. It's the form of a young girl with a body type similar to Kamii's. Her hair is curly and very long, reaching all the way to the clouds below her feet, and the sheer volume gives her the appearance of a fluffy sheep. She wears a shiny white school swimsuit, but knee-high boots cover her feet in a dissonant combination of fashion.
So this is what Exla really looks like. I have the urge to touch her hair, even though I know it's most likely made of water vapors.
Her starry eyes resembling swirling galaxies are fixed on me, and she tilts her head while blinking a few times in wonder. Then her lips curl up into a happy smile filled with excitement.
"Are you Japanese?" She speaks in a bell-like clear voice that perfectly fits her appearance and asks me - in perfect Japanese.
My jaw drops.
Come again?