Chapter 109
Left Hand of God 1
-:-
1 month later
Somewhere in the country of Eldorado
Saiga Piggery and Cattle Ranch
Juno Saiga gazed at the clear blue sky beyond the horizon.
What was she looking at?
Nothing in particular.
She was just stood in a daze as her mind wandered within the deep bowels of her psyche. She was reflecting on her past and compared it to her present in hopes of predicting her future.
In layman’s terms, she was thinking.
Beyond the great blue sky, beyond the cold void of space, beyond the space-time continuum was the past she left behind.
Once upon a time, in a reality far far away, she held power that rivalled that of a god. She was nigh omnipotent and almost nothing could stand in her way.
Her very presence would cause planets to be stripped off life. Even bacteria would cease to function due to the harshness of the energy that radiated from her.
She was a force of nature.
The harbinger of death and destruction.
She was power made manifest.
In that particular reality, every alien race, god, faction, nation, military, etc banned to form a grand alliance to combat her.
It was the largest alliance to have ever existed in known history.
With all the armies, technologies and equipment in one spot, the grand alliance of billions of starships fought against the monstrous Juno….. to a stalemate.
This was a testament to how much power she wielded back in the day.
If given the chance, would she want to wield the same god-like power again?
Her answer: HELL NO!
‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
The wisdom in these words was something she experienced it first hand.
The death of a certain person that was at the center of her life broke her.
The vengeful spirit that she became removed all semblance of ‘humanity’ from her.
The single minded quest for vengeance corrupted her.
The rapid acquisition of power transformed her into ‘something’ that had only one function: destroy.
She became a mindless brutal killing machine and only got stronger from there.
Consumed by power and rage, she completely forgot the target of her vengeance in pursuit of even greater power.
For millennia after millennia, she destroyed anything and everything in a mindless fit of rage. And she would have continued to do so for all eternity if it wasn't for a certain ‘old man’ that brought her back to her senses.
The old man looked human, but no human could stand in her presence and not die or go insane.
Like the father she never had, the old man guided Juno back to the path of sanity and purpose.
It was thanks to this old man that Juno stood where she was now.
Sure, she might have lost all of her godlike power and she might obliterated everything in her original reality, but it was all worth it.
She was alive and sane, and she was fairly sure that the old man went with her in this new reality.
And now, she had another chance to make things right.
“But I hope I meet the old man again. I owe him one, and I’m more than willing to return the favor. But that damn bastard is way too spirited for his old age! How am I supposed to pay you back if I dont know where you are?!” thought Juno as she backfisted a soldier looking fellow into the realm of dreams.
At the moment, Juno was standing idly on the Saiga Piggery complex. Despite being surrounded by muscular mercenaries that had every intention of beating her to a bloody pulp, Juno felt no fear and was even bored to death.
These mercenaries were all slaves to Juno’s will and she was giving them a little training exercise to gauge their usefulness in the upcoming mission.
The objective of the exercise was simple: beat Juno.
If they were successful, Juno will allow them to do whatever they want with her body and not kill them afterwards.
They could use any weapon, magic and martial arts at their disposal.
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She also guaranteed that none of them would die in this exercise.
To the long time slaves of Juno, they knew that she was the type of person who always kept her word no matter how absurd the promise was.
However, completing the objectives to get her to keep her promise was a different story entirely.
Juno had absolutely no intention of sleeping with any of the mercenaries and she’ll make damn sure that it won't happen.
She may follow the rules she has set for herself, but she’ll resist with all of her might.
But based her level of skill and power, ‘all of her might’ was not necessary.
There were originally 50 mercenaries in this exercise, half of them were already taking a dirt nap.
And she did this unarmed, without focus and while wearing a white business suit that was clearly not meant to be used for combat.
It couldn't be helped if the remaining mercenaries were extremely reluctant to approach her.
“Hm? Are we done?” asked Juno as she stifled a yawn
The mercenaries didn't like that.
One of the mercs got his hands on a RPG and unleashed it upon Juno.
Naturally, it did not amount to anything.
Juno caught the RPG as it was about to connect with her face and brutally tore the live warhead from the rocket before throwing both into an area where no one would get caught in the explosion.
“Nice move, but that needs to be an ambush. Anyone with sufficient power and skill can see that thing coming. If I wanted you guys dead, that rocket would be on its way back to its original owner.” said Juno in a lighthearted manner.
The normal reaction such an absurd display was hopelessness at the insurmountable gap of skill.
However, the mercenaries felt nothing because they’ve been Juno’s slaves long enough to know that she was still holding back.
If she wanted them dead, they wouldn't even have the opportunity to aim their weapons before their ligaments start flying all over the place.
In all honesty, the mercenaries don't even want to do this exercise.
Unfortunately, saying NO to Juno’s ‘proposal’ was a sure fire way to experience mind breaking pain that would make even the most resolute of people beg for death.
And since this was a test of sorts, they were not allowed to throw the fight, lest they want to spend the next month screaming in agony.
With no way to escape bodily harm, the mercenaries attacked Juno with the intent to kill.
The first one to get close to Juno was a samurai.
“First technique: 5 severing rays!”
With a loud roar, the samurai threw 5 slashes in almost the same time.
Despite the impressive level of skill, Juno easily caught it between her thumb and middle finger
“I know it’s a fad in Zifang, but please don't shout out the name of your attack. It’s cool and all, but there’s a chance that your opponent knows the skill and can counter accordingly.” said Juno before she planted an uppercut into the samurai’s chin
The warrior backflipped beautifully before smashing face first into the ground.
While this was happening, a martial artist skillfully approached Juno via her blindside.
Before he could even decided what attack to use, he found Juno’s iron grip around his throat.
“Attacking is good, but always remember that you’re not the only one who wants to attack. While the best defense is a good offense, never forget that a counter attack is in the realm of possibility.”
Juno choke slammed the martial artist into the ground. The force was so great that the martial artist was literally slammed ‘into’ the ground.
Before Juno could recover…
“PROTECTION!” shouted Juno while her hand was pointed in front of her.
A semi-transparent wall of light appeared in front of her. And barely a second later, a barrage of bullets pummeled the barrier of light.
Every mercenary present open fired with whatever gun they had in their disposal.
“Very good! Now that’s what I want to see!” said the approving Juno. “Very few individuals can perfectly nullify the damage of bullets without the help of armor. It may not kill most superhumans outright, but a shower of lead will hurt a lot and will eventually build up to their demise.”
After saying her piece, Juno drew a wand that was stabbed to her belt and pointed it at the mercenaries.
“FORCE WAVE!”
An invisible force slammed into 10 mercenaries and violently blew them off their feet. The mercs slammed into the pavement hard.
While none of them were dead, they were hurting enough to be considered harmless.
Personally, Juno disliked using magic at all. It was boring and did not allow her to experience the pleasure of breaking bones and severing limbs.
However, she liked the Force Wave spell a lot. The large AOE was able to make up for her atrocious range accuracy.
If she cant hit the broadside of a barn, she might as well annihilate the barn and everything near it.
She fired Force Wave again and again and again until the remaining mercenaries were down on the ground. Though she may have destroyed 2 cars, 4 trees and killed 3 dogs in her reckless barrage.
“Good job everyone! Rest up, take a bath and go to town and play with a few whores. Naturally, I’m paying. You guys earned it. We’ll do this again in 2 days” said Juno
Despite her generosity, the mercenaries groaned in annoyance and resignation.
Being beaten to a bloody pulp was obviously physically taxing, but the idea that they couldn't even scratch her was a big blow to the spirit.
Who would want to fight such a monster more than once?
And they have been doing this every 2 days for the past month!
But seeing how any resistance would result in their painful death, they could only groan and move on.
While Juno was watching the mercenaries pick themselves up, she spotted 3 individuals approaching.
One of them was her mother, the blue kimono clad Yasami Saiga.
Beside her was a dwarf with deep gray skin and had numerous golden chimes attached to his beard. This was Shale Vaultmos, a slave Duergar (evil dwarf) turned friend of Juno.
The last one was a fat humanoid that stood 4 meters tall. It’s left hand was cut off and was replaced with a spiked ball and chain.
This giant was named by Juno as Sir Matheus Frediric Lupine Salvador, but she only ever called him Bob.
Bob was someone Juno ‘peacefully recruited’ into her group during her many escapades all over the world many years ago. They have been friends (master/slave) ever since.
“Thank you for your hard work.” said Yasami Saiga in her signature traditional Zifang beauty facade.
“Hello mother.” replied Juno before bashing Yasami in the face.
Naturally, she held back most of her inhumane strength. The only injury Yasami received was a broken nose.
Juno then used healing magic on her mother.
“Was that really necessary?” asked the confused Shale
“Yes it is. My mother dear is a social climber that will kiss anyone’s ass just to climb up. She even sacrificed her own daughter in hopes of forming a connection with a filthy incubus. While I wont kill her because she is sort of useful, it is best if she knows her place” replied Juno.
“Bob eat?” asked Bob while pointing at Yasami.
Naturally, the Zifang beauty shook in fear.
“No Bob. Not yet. The Machine God might like her.” replied Juno, much to Yasami’s relief. “So, why are you guys here?”
“Bob got bored ‘playing’ those drug lord mooks that attacked a few days ago, so I took him out for a walk.” said Shale, to which Bob puffed his chest for some reason. “As for me, I’m here to tell you that your armor is ready.”
“Nice! It took 1 year and 10000 human sacrifices but it's finally here!”
“I understand you’re excited and all since the armor is my finest work yet…. But even I won't wear that even if you give me all the alcohol and women in the world. I may have made that to taylor to your specifications, but I wouldnt want anyone wearing that thing.”
“Then watch and be amazed my midget friend. For I am the bride of the Machine God and there is no tool of war I can't wield!” Juno boasted in a grandiose manner.
“.... except for guns…. You can't hit the broadside of a ship even at point blank range.” teased Shale.
For his words, the people of the Saiga Piggery witnessed how much pain a man can experience when he is forcefully lifted off the ground by his nose.