When Tokomaha and I return to where we left Korenga alone a while ago - we kinda forgot the time "hunting" together - we find that there's a pile of dead animals next to her. I wonder why they would keep coming to her, if all they find is death, but maybe that's just part of the Black God's legend or something.
Speaking of Black God, she was in her black skin mode just now, but turns back upon seeing us approach. It must have something to do with how they're lured in, and now I'm really curious about what that form actually means. Unlike a certain homunculus, she's physically already impervious to damage normally, so that's not the result of her hardening her skin or something. And she used it in the castle to make all the blood slide off of her as if her surface becomes frictionless.
"[Ohhh, how was it?]" Korenga is clearly directing this question at Tokomaha, who is a little unsteady on her feet after being subjected to my exceptional technique. Of course, she can tell what we went to do, even though I'm carrying a few small animals as an alibi. Well, I don't really mind anyone knowing that we went at it, but I also don't want to openly announce it to the world. But Tokomaha obviously doesn't respond, averting her gaze in embarrassment as she tries to act tough.
I walk up to the Black God and take a closer look at her spoils. There's a large animal looking like a bear, but with purple fur and something I could only call bone gauntlets around its paws. Another big one is a deer with antlers that are literally branches, from which leaves grow. Yeah, those are truly animals that could only exist in another world.
I can feel my children hunting a good distance from here, and life signatures are disappearing around them periodically. I'm expecting them to come back with a pretty small haul, having consumed most of it themselves along the way or even during hunting. But looking at Korenga's achievements, it should be enough to last her for the journey to Uarapo. Then again, I wonder how she's going to transport it all, especially considering we have no extra horse or even a cart. Should have gotten one in Manoa, if we had known that her horse would give out.
"[So, how are you going to carry those?]" Her size is enough to carry the bear on her back and the deer under her arm, but there are also a lot of smaller animals.
"[Tokomaha is convenient like that, no?]" Pointing at the petite goddess behind me, Korenga states what I didn't even think about. So she's going to rely on that convenient cloning ability to provide a cheap workforce?
Wait... am I onto something here? I don't know Tokomaha's limits, but wouldn't she able to create a huge labor force and...
"[I'm not going to help you.]" Of course, if the person herself isn't cooperative, that thought is moot.
"[Oh, come on! I'll give you some, too.]" Korenga lifts several of the smaller ones to bargain with the God of Growth. I turn away, chuckling to myself. Really, they sometimes behave really childishly, not at all the image of gods I used to have in my previous life. It was obvious with Tokomaha, but even someone as grownup in her outward appearance as Korenga can be unexpectedly naive and cute.
Speaking of which, the same is true for Awhina. She's half a head taller than me, but she's much more of a child, even though we should be around the same age. Then again, she also has her mature moments, such as her ability to manage interpersonal relationship situations I would have trouble dealing with. And her outlook on life and the important things in it is also more adult-like than I can claim about myself.
Huh, wait. Doesn't this mean she's actually more mature than I am after all?
Uten and Saten are on their way back. I turn to look at the two goddesses, who are still in an argument about carrying the spoils. It looks really funny, with Korenga towering over the tiny Tokomaha and talking down on her, but the two of them seemingly being on roughly even footing. Maybe it's because their mental age is very similar or something, despite their appearance. In turn, I couldn't see Tahiri doing the same.
"[We got a lot, mama!]" The twins have created makeshift baskets on their backs out of their own bodies and filled them with small animals they were able to impale with the spike technique they learned from me earlier. Sorry for doubting you two! You brought a lot back instead of eating it all by yourselves.
"[Good job!]" Petting them, I look at the unfortunate critters. There are some that look pretty cute, too. "[But this is too much. See, Korenga caught a lot, too.]"
Between us all, there's easily enough to feed the entire village of Aoranam for several days. Well, maybe not when the slave army that now lives there is included.
"[Then we should eat some of it right now.]" Uten states and undoes the basket transformation on his back.
"[Let's reduce the amount we have to carry.]" Saten follows his brother's example and does the same.
"[Alright, go ahead.]" I haven't been too fond of gorging myself on uncooked stuff for the past year. Ruiha and Awhina's cooking was just so delicious that I feel like it's a waste to eat potential ingredients raw these days. I'd rather have her prepare some large feast with this, but it's obvious that won't be possible here in the middle of the forest.
Taking several large rodent-like animals, the twins pull them inside their bodies through their apparent clothes. I think at this point, just like me, they don't stop to enjoy the taste or anything either, and only eat to increase their mass as per a Crawling Chaos' instincts. When I get a chance one of these days, I'll ask to see their full sizes, but for now I just watch other them warmly.
"[You...]" Korenga stares at the two intently, her gaze holding a hint of danger.
"[Uh-oh.]" Tokomaha makes this sound and steps forward, to stand between the Black God and the twins, who continue to consume without noticing the building tension. What's going on here? "[They aren't aspects of Mataku, Korenga!]"
But it's too late, it seems she's seen blood, and she turns into her namesake appearance. Charging straight at my children and knocking Tokomaha out of the way, her face shows pure killing intent. I react immediately and create boosters on my back, which I use to propel myself forward at an explosive speed.
I crash into Korenga from the side. Due to my momentum we're both propelled sideways and straight into a tree. Since I didn't increase my mass at the time, I didn't have that much force behind me, but knowing her body she's definitely unhurt. I immediately increase my density and punch her jaw; even if she's invulnerable, if she has a brain, this should rattle it.
But it shows no effect, and instead I receive a punch with the force of a truck. At least that's what I imagine it to feel like to be hit by a truck, because it sends me flying even in my heavier and sturdier form. I crash through a tree and become half-embedded into the one behind it.
Before I can pull myself out from it, the Black God comes crashing after me, slamming into me with her shoulder. Since I don't feel any pain and the damage is only superficial, there's no delay in my actions. Wrapping myself around her and swallowing her inside me, I put an end to this battle instantly.
Then revulsion fills my entire body and I immediately spit her out again.
Ugh, what was that?!
The aftertaste is still permeating my entire body and I shudder. This is the first time I've felt this way and it continues to haunt me!
"[Maaataaakuuu!!!]" Roaring in an unexpectedly low-pitched voice filled with hatred, the Black God spins back around to me and uses the momentum to throw a heavy haymaker to my face. I feel my spine snap under the force and my head twist on my neck several times, but I undo my humanoid transformation to turn into a homogenous biological mass. If I had been human, that would have been my death, even with increased muscle and bone density.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I really want to know who or what this Mataku is, if the action of swallowing things into one's body is associated with him or her. In either case, I now know that I can't swallow her. At least I don't want to, since her taste - or whatever it is - is something the insides of my body seem to instinctively shirk away from. This means I'll have to fight it out in a physical way, which may be a practice in futility. Considering the fact that she's most likely invulnerable, and she doesn't have any means to damage me significantly, this might turn out in a fasion similar to my duels against Tahiri.
"[Stop it, Korenga! Don't hurt Chaos!]" Tokomaha runs after us and shouts desperately. I'm happy that you feel like that for me, but it's better if you stay back. I wouldn't want to see you get caught in this battle.
I see my children following her and looking at us with wondrous expressions. They don't understand why we're fighting, but maybe they think it's the same as when I fought against Tahiri all these times. They don't seem too concerned either way, since they know how sturdy I am and that I can even withstand lightning blasts. Their bodies are practically the same as mine, so they're aware of their own capabilities to a certain extent.
Planting my feet and pouring my entire mass into my outward appearance, I increase my density to the maximum. Buffing up my size to match my opponent's, I feel my feet sink into the ground due to my weight. This isn't the time to joke, yet I can't help but feel sad at noticing myself becoming so heavy that it causes such a phenomeno-
Taking her shoulder slam to my chest, I stop Korenga's assault and grab onto her. The surface of her body is actually really slippery so I lose my grip, allowing her to duck low before delivering a devastating hook to my chin with the force of her entire rising body behind it. I can feel my feet leave the ground even though I should easily weigh several tons right now. So this is the power of the Black God?
But since I have no physical brain, it can't be shaken from such an attack. So I immediately return the favor with a cross to her face, which she takes head-on. It hits her square on the cheek, but she doesn't even slow down in her assault, throwing a punch into my side. I can actually feel her fist sink into my body a little, due to the impact displacing my mass, even though I should easily have the density of massive steel right now.
This is bad. She's actually stronger than me even at my full density.
Turning my right hand into a dragon's maw, I use it to bite onto her arm and shoot a plasma burst at it. The energy is diffused and scatters across the area behind her, causing explosions of fire - but her arm is completely fine. In response to this attack, Korenga pushes me backwards with her whole body, until we crash into a tree. Pulling her arm back with all her strength, I lose grip of her and immediately shield myself from her downward punch, which causes the entire tree to scatter into pieces underneath me.
Lying on my back, I turn my chest into a dragon's head and fire a large beam of plasma straight into the Black God's face. The explosive force alone causes her upper body to snap backwards, which gives me enough time to get back up, but then her head comes back down straight onto mine in a hammer-like headbutt. I meet hers with my own and feel my feet sink in from the impact, which seems to send a shockwave through the forest around us.
Neither of us can hurt each other. This is simply a slugfest until one gives out from exhaustion. I've never been exhausted since I got this body, so I can say with conviction that I should be the last person standing. But somehow I don't feel so confident when I see Korenga's relentless charge, into which she throws her entire body and soul.
She repeatedly roars the name Mataku at me, all the while taking my heavy punches without showing any hint of effectiveness, and throwing her own - each of which would most definitely splatter a normal human's body into bloody bits. Even though I should be incapable of feeling tired, somehow my whole body seems to be groaning under the weight of her assault. I can't let this go on forever!
Twisting my body to avoid her right cross, I put my all into a left haymaker, and shift the mass from my torso into the fist, while at the same time adding a funnel to my elbow and activating a burst of wind inside it - a punch thrown just like a certain giant robot's elbow rocket. I've seen that my attacks at least have some stopping power against her, so maybe this will be enough to send her flying somewhere.
But she ducks under it and I overshoot, losing balance and very nearly falling onto my buttocks. Luckily, I have this convenient body, so I retract my useless right leg, which has left the ground and won't be able to help catch my fall, inside my body and grow it back out in front of me. My entire shape twists and turns on the spot, as my arms bend backwards and my face appears on the back of my head. I practically turned my entire body around on the spot.
I brace for an impact from Korenga, but it doesn't come.
Looking down, I find that she is lying on the ground, her skin having reverted to its normal color with the black tattoos visible all over her body. It seems she ran out of juice, so I guess I was lucky.
Then I hear her snoring and my legs give out under me.
"[What happened? We heard a fight going on!]" Mereana and Awhina have been awakened by the noise from our battle and are standing in the camp anxiously. Unlike us, they don't have night vision, so they couldn't walk out and take a look.
I'm still in my larger version since it's easier to carry Korenga on one shoulder, while at the same time also bringing along the large bear-like creature she killed. My children are each carrying a pile themselves, while Tokomaha brought the deer along. Of course I wouldn't waste any potential food, especially after such a battle.
"[This one wanted to attack my children because she thought they were aspects of Mataku.]" I explain while dropping the big goddess in question carelessly. Putting the bear down a distance away from the fireplace, I shrink down to my usual size and walk up to the tree on which Tahiri is lazing about. "[So, who or what is Mataku?]"
"[Mataku, the Primordial Terror, is the origin of everything that is evil and corrupt.]" Awhina is the one to answer in her stead. I'm sure she's angry at Korenga for attacking the twins, as she glares at the snoring goddess. "[He can change his form and wherever he walks, the land withers and dies. He has existed since primordial times, and stands against everything living. Mataku is the eternal enemy of Tumanako, The All-Parent.]"
I have understood by now that the people of Adanak don't distinguish between male and female when referring to gods. Case in point, these three goddesses are all called God of something. The same seems to be true when touching upon the highest ranking gods. Well, considering Mataku is a shapeshifter like me, it's better to refer to it as genderless, I guess. And same for this Tumanako, who's called the All-Parent rather than All-Father or -Mother.
"[There's more to it.]" Tahiri floats down from her perch and comes to a halt in front of me lazily. "[Mataku has manifested in this world many times, taking on corporeal form and influencing gods and man for his own benefits.]" Sounds like one of the sorcerers...
The God of Storm proceeds to tell the history between Mataku and Korenga. How the latter, when she was younger, was tricked by him into destroying the very village she was the patron god of. When she swore revenge, he appeared before her again in another form, and provided her strength in exchange for a terrible curse.
She first found out what that curse was when she had a child with Pakangaroa, the God of War, whose favor she gained with her newfound might. Her powerful love activated it, upon which her body turned black like an aspect of corruption, and she killed her own baby with an embrace. Realizing that she had been tricked by Mataku, she became so enraged that the curse made her lose control of herself. Rampaging through Pakangaroa's fortress, killing many of his children and even wounding him, she was cast out and barred from ever returning to his side again.
Wandering the world aimlessly, she learned the conditions of her curse and how to control them over the ages, but by then she had already become a lonely existence nobody would ever make friends of again. She had become the Black God.
"[So it's because of this curse that I can't eat her, huh?]" I mutter to myself.
"[You tried to eat her?]" Tahiri raises an eyebrow and asks, apparently hearing my mumblings.
"[Well, I thought it was the only way to stop her at the time. If she hadn't fallen asleep, we would still be going at it right now...]" Pointing at Korenga, I state with some irritation. I'm reminded of the feeling I had when I swallowed her whole, and it sends a shiver down my figurative spine.
"[That's part of her curse. When her body turns black, things that touch her die. Of course, it's not a perfect ability, since powerful gods are very resistant to it, but mortals and weaker gods are easily affected.]" That explains a lot. I didn't notice it when I punched her, but when my entire body was enveloping her, the curse must have affected me greatly. So that's how her child died, huh? "[And that she falls asleep at the same time every night is also because of Mataku. Korenga is most likely the greatest victim of his evil.]"
I thought so, too. Though I don't really understand why he would make her fall asleep, if he seemingly has the power over life and death itself. I guess this means that Mataku is just messing with her, huh?
In either case, I'll talk to her when she wakes up. I hope she'll listen, or else we might have to fight until she falls asleep again, and then all we could do is to just leave her behind. Yet, I feel like doing something for her, because I know the feeling of loss and being all on my own afterwards. But of course, I can't even imagine how many years or decades she has spent with that burden.
"[Go to sleep. You need to be ready tomorrow morning, in case she still wishes to kill me and my children.]" Directing this at Awhina and Mereana, I walk over to the bear-like animal and create a blade out of my hand, with which I cut it to pieces. In my fight I expended quite some energy, even though I don't feel tired at all; I guess rather than muscle pain and exhaustion, I simply use up my mass. I won't say sorry for taking Korenga's spoils, either. It's her fault that I need to eat a lot now.
Really though, this Mataku is the type I hate the most. If I meet him, I'm gonna smack him good.