Chapter 91: But the name was taken

Gore alert

To say that Momonga was shaken was an understatement.

He was lucky that [Time Stop] gave him precious few seconds for Emotion Suppression to activate and calm him down, before his rage, grief, panic and worry reached the suppression limit and was brought down again- Even if it was a steep trade, as the mana cost of the spell built quickly and he had used multiple times already.

The fact the [Emotion Suppression] was starting to show signs of slowing down worried him as well, as each 'calming' cycle took longer and longer to take effect.

Nonetheless the ability finally calmed Momonga until his rage was carefully controlled and hardened, like a blacksmith's steel which had been hammered and tempered until it was fit for a sword.

[Planar Eye], which had revealed Rossweisse's condition, or rather the condition of the woman who bore Momonga's child, and had also revealed her location.

Delayed [Greater Teleportation] took him to the offender.

Momonga barely glanced at the tall, lanky man with odd head-dress and cruel features before letting [Reality Slash] release from [Greater Seal], and allowing a series of delayed spells to unleash and hit the assailant.

The lanky man managed to open his mouth, presumably for a remark or to try to speak to Momonga while his eyes had widened to the size of saucers… But Reality Slash hit him square in the middle, causing a hair-thin line of blood to form from the side of his head to his waist on the other side of his body, not quite bisecting him but leaving a deep gash that popped one of his eyes and caused a fountain of blood to explode outwards..

Blood spurted from the lanky man's mouth as [Grasp Heart] removed the assailant's heart and placed it in Momonga's hand, and the disguised Overlord crushed it between his fingers almost halfheartedly.

[Weaken], [Open Wounds], [Venom], [Greater Plague], [Fly infestation] and [Negative Energy Touch] hit the man afterwards as Momonga had grasped the assailant's hand that still held the bloody dagger, and the lanky man's face turned yellow and pallid, while his now-bleeding and empty eye socket and wounds were starting to buzz with thumb-sized corpse-flies that devoured into the exposed flesh like beetles, and hives of maggots poured out from the assailant's now-porous and bubbling pale skin that hid the rest of the disgusting swarm that had appeared within.

The lanky man's screams echoed in the air as Momonga let him fall- The assailant wasn't dead, but it'd take him a while to recover and get his bearings. And right now there were more important things for Momonga than revenge- To make sure Rossweisse would be resurrected. Or rather, that Momonga's unborn child that the nordic spy-woman bore would be resurrected.

The stone tablet the man had been using for the sacrificial rite fell with him, as did the unconscious white-haired girl who had been placed on it.

Momonga didn't even glance after Koneko as she fell, his attention solely focused on the Dark Young which had devoured Rossweisse.

A lack of weight on his shoulder informed Momonga that the cat the Elder Lich had procured from somewhere had disappeared as well, which was an issue for Momonga as the cat would know his secret and if Ddraig's explanation of 'nekoshou' was any indication, the cat would be self-aware to at least some degree and thus could pose a threat to him.

But he only acknowledged the cat's disappearance, as he had more important things to take care of.

Momonga dove into the Dark Young's bleating maw, which opened wide to let him in as he was, technically, the summon's true master.

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Kunou was scared.

"Mom?" The young girl with nine blonde-yellow fox-like tails kept her hands close to her chest to warm herself, while her tails were bunched together and between her legs.

She knew her mother had warned her not to do that, as it'd betray her nervousness and fear to anyone looking, but she couldn't help it.

The dark, sunless forest was scary.

The trees were scary.

The ground which was covered in tentacle-like roots was scary.

The air which was stale with the musky scent of a barn and bursting with disgusting, eerie scent of gore was scary.

The blood that flowed from under the dark trees was scary.

The pale hand that tried to grasp at something from under one of the trees was scary, and the way the tree's roots entwined themselves around the hand was scary. Not to mention the way the tree's bark split to show a row after row of teeth which gnawed at the white hand.

Kunou shivered while she stood in the middle of a clearing of trees, unwilling to go anywhere near them.

The tentacles on the ground moved and Kunou jumped in fright- Only for the tentacles to grasp her ankle and bring her back to the ground.

She tried to conjure her fox-fire, but it was extinguished like a spark in a thick sludge, leaving a cold, empty feeling in the comforting fire's place.

The tentacles of the trees crawled themselves around Kunou's body as she struggled and screamed for her mother for help- But instead of her mother, a massive goat-like tree rose from the forest and it's eighteen pairs of milky, horizontal and golden goat-like eyes focused on Kunou.

One of the massive tree's uprooted roots landed near Kunou, removing the grasp of the lesser tree's tentacles from her skin.

Only for the root to extend its own tentacles at Kunou, causing her to scream as she realized that her saviour had done it only so that it could devour her instead-

And a spear of ice landed on the root, burying it's tip into the bark and causing it to withdraw in shock.

"What in Hel… You! What is going on here? What… Ghuh…" A voice of a woman invaded Kunou's ears and she looked to her saviour to see a tall, white-haired woman who was holding to her lower stomach with one hand and had pointed her finger at the now-withdrawing root. "Where are we? You… You're a Youkai?"

Kunou knew that the white-haired woman was responsible for saving her, but before she could say anything the root sprang back, as it hadn't withdrawn so much as drawn itself to a bow.

"Guh!" The woman was flung against a nearby tree as the root impacted against her chest, flinging her aside like a toy.

The root then lifted itself up, and slapped itself down to the wounded woman's stomach and caused her to vomit blood in a geysir, like a helpless forest animal who had been crushed by a falling tree.

"Don't…" Kunou whispered in despair as the giant tree's roots sprouted tentacles from now-open holes in it's bark and the disgusting, veiny and worm-like things tied themselves around the now-unconscious white-haired woman's body, like long, black maggots pouring from pores of a dead tree to bring food into their nests.

A hundred pairs of goat-like maws opened in the gigantic tree's bark while the tree's sixteen eyes turned to look at the unconscious woman… Except for one, which suddenly lurched to look at Kunou.

Kunou screamed her lungs out as the roots reached for her as well…

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Momonga squeezed through the Dark Young's throat, glad that he had a decent degree of control over the dark creature, and landed into a half-filled 'hollow', so to speak.

The space was lightless, so Momonga cast a quick cantrip to create a spot of light on the 'roof' of the hollow, and took a look around the waist-deep marshy and thick water he had found himself in. Although, to call it 'water' would be a misnomer as it was blood and gore.

The cramped space was half-full of black sludge mixed with gore, bones and flesh- Marking the remains of the other valkyries that the Dark Young had caught and eaten in it's rampage.

Luckily the contents didn't seem to be acidic, which meant the flesh hadn't become a slurry, and more importantly, meant that the pieces of flesh were still somewhat separate from each other.

"Dammit…" Momong realized that one of the many mangled bodies must have belonged to Rossweisse, while the part of him that was 'Suzuki Satoru' was feeling a bit queasy. He wasn't a stranger to blood and gore, as Neo Japan had quite few 'accidents' or rather suicides both assisted and not-assisted at mag-railways, to the point that the companies required the commuter trains to have a self-cleaning prows to help them grind up bodies of hopeless or broken people who'd throw themselves into the train's tracks to be electrocuted and crushed to death.

Nonetheless Momonga ignored the queasy feeling as he picked up a fair-skinned, dainty arm that had been chewed off by the elbow, and cast [Resurrection] on it.

An unknown woman with bluish-white hair gasped for air as the body 'reassembled' itself.

"Wha- who? Awawa?" The woman seemed incredibly confused, which wasn't a surprise as she was exhausted, naked, waist-deep in gore and sludge, and surrounded by the mauled, shredded corpses of those who Momonga guessed were her comrades.

Then her eyes opened wide as she spotted Momonga. She somehow seemed to recognize him and she started to scream in fear.

"Haa… [Silence]." Momonga moved onto the next body after casting a quick spell to keep the unknown valkyrie's screams from distracting him. 'It's got to be one of these…'

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In the Dark Forest of Shub-Niggurath, a dainty hand which had been gnawed on by a tree… disappeared.

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"[Resurrection]- no, hrm…" Momonga grabbed a disembodied thigh that seemed a bit too thick to belong to Rossweisse, but he couldn't tell in the cramped environment. Specifically as he was hard-pressed for time. 'That guy who attacked Rossweisse… He'll recover soon. I don't think I managed to kill him, more like distract him and drive him away for the time…'

A valkyrie with a massive bust re-assembled and Momonga turned her the right way around as she had resurrected face-down in the sludge. She wasn't Rossweisse though, so Momonga put her beside her screaming partners and moved to the next body part.

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In the dark forest, a tree bleated in anger and despair as it's precious snack disappeared.

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"[Resurrection]- No, [Resurrection]..." Momonga was starting to despair and considered adding his screams to the now-resurrected Valkyries, specifically as the space was starting to get more than a bit cramped.

The fact that the Dark Young seemed to have started to move didn't help Momonga's efforts.

He paused the resurrections to peel off a valkyrie who had been slammed boob-first into his face as the Dark Young stopped suddenly.

The creature then shuddered hard for some reason, almost as if it was scared for some reason, but Momonga couldn't care less.

"[Resurrection]..."

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Odin weaved himself out of the battle that raged in the sky and had turned the clouds into a roiling, lightning-struck affair.

Michael of Heavens sent a long series of light-bolts after Odin, but the old Norse god managed to create a cascading wall of steel that caught the bolts, redirecting the power into a splash of molten steel that formed the steel into a massive ax.

A giant made of runes grabbed the axe and swung it at Yasaka, and the fox-shaped divine ruler of Kyoto dodged… But the axe nicked one of her tails, causing her to stumble as the tails were both the symbol and the source of a Kitsune's power.

Yasaka launched herself into the rune-made giant's throat and tore it out, but the golem was not disabled by the attack and instead grabbed the divine fox by the waist and swung it's axe at the now-trapped woman's tails… Only to stop an inch before the axe would sever the woman's tails.

"Cease your assault, Michael of Heavens, or your ally will pay for your idiocy!" Odin rumbled, and the sky roared in thunder with the old god's words.

And then the sky calmed as Michael ordered it to be so.

Nonetheless Michael paused as he knew that he couldn't win one-versus-two against Sirzechs and Odin, which meant that if Yasaka was defeated, he'd be next. 'Hm… Azazel is busy fighting Beelzebub. Serafall killed Gabriel, but disappeared afterwards… But Father resurrected Gabriel, and she leads the battle down below in his stead… The Fourth Maou, Asmodeus… Ah, from the looks of it is busy trying to organize the remaining devils into a retreat, while those who defected into His fold are holding the line against the darkness below… How despicable, to run with their tails between their legs while their kin are fighting the dark...'

'I'm running out of allies.' Michael realized that the battle was turning quickly against him. 'Father, you are right. Odin is our greatest threat- oh?'

It was almost as if an oppressive gloom had descended upon the battlefield, despite it being mid-day.

The roiling skies had turned the day into a dark affair, but now it felt as if light itself was being extinguished.

A dark creature moved past the clouds… And Michael saw It.

The Dreamer.

"What… have you done?" Michael's throat was dry as he turned his head slowly towards Odin, glad that the ancient Outer Being that had appeared in their midst had chosen to ignore the divine beings and gods fighting in the sky, like how someone might ignore a pair of cats playing with each other in favor of attending to more important affairs.

A man appeared next to Odin before he could recover from seeing the ancient 'creature'… And the man was in a horrifying condition.

His flesh seemed to slouch off his face, his empty eyeball buzzed with black flies and his body seemed to have become a hive for worms that crawled around his pallid and dying flesh.

Odin let out a yelp of surprise and fright while Sirzechs paled at the sight. "Loki?! Did Hastur… What happened to you?!"

The wounded man glanced at Michael, at the darkness in the shore, and seemed to realize something.

"It's done… I sacrificed them… As you ordered me to. My job is done." Loki offered a bloodied dagger at Odin while shambling a bit. "Glory to the Greatest One."

"You- W-" Odin's face paled to the complexity of paper as he glanced at the dagger, and then at the darkness in the distance. And then the old man screeched. "YOU FOOL OF A BOY! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Only… what you ordered me to do." Loki coughed out with a smirk, if it could be called that, and swatted a particularly large fly that crawled out of his eye-socket. "Here…"

The trickster produced a writ of sealing and showed it to Odin in an odd angle that let both Michael and Sirzechs look at it- And saw that Loki was speaking true as the writ carried Odin's name, alongside an order to sacrifice Hastur's children to Shub-Niggurath, in exchange for recognizing Loki as Odin's heir.

Sirzechs looked thoroughly betrayed.

Michael was feeling quite annoyed at Odin.

Yasaka attempted to struggle free of the golem's grasp, and managed to scorch it's runic gauntlet enough for it to break and the golem let the fox go.

"Do you even realize the horror you have brought to our home?" Michael asked quietly while he moved away from the path of the advancing Outer Being, placing the traitorous Norse God and his wayward son between him and the horror in the sea. "You must have known that he-who-must-never-be-named is a sibling of the Dreamer… And that they'd know if you killed a child that was one of their family. Certainly you'd know that none of them would take that kind of insult lightly..."

Granted, the Being in question was still in the distance, miles away from shore, but Michael knew better than to take risks when it came to dealing with Him. Even then, the Arch-Angel was feeling quite… disturbed, to the point where he was one surprise away from ordering his people into a full retreat. The only fact that kept him from doing so was the possibility of the Awakened Dreamer considering the Heavens partly at fault for the butchery Odin had ordered as only the guilty ran from their actions, at least from Michael's point of view.

Michael saw a massive serpent rise from the sea to challenge the squid-headed humanoid-like creature with barnacle-covered leathery wings that seemed to stretch the horizon, only for the serpent to swim into the dark sea that spread like ink around the awakened Dreamer… And Jormungand, the Serpent of Apocalypse, sank like a brick and disappeared.

Odin twitched violently as a thread of prophecy was severed, or in this case, sunk, and the old god's 'predetermined' fate changed- That of a death by Jormungard's fangs, to something else now that the sea-creature was dead.

The molluscoid creature hadn't even noticed the death of the Great Serpent of Norse Apocalypse as the Outer Being moved closer towards the shore with unhurried steps.

Michael felt a bit shaky.

"What… You… Was that your plan all along?! You… You told me Momon was Hastur… I thought… It all made sense… But… Did you switch sides, and use me as a tool to gather sacrifices for Them?!" Sirzechs's hands shook as he looked at Odin and the normally-calm Maou's expression turned from shock to anger, and then to rage. "You played us all- You… You… Damn traitor! Did you ally yourself with Shub-Niggurath?! Did you plan for the Underworld to face the blame for your actions through me?"

"No! This is Hastur's plan- He seeks to divide us!" Odin waved his hands to calm Sirzechs, although it didn't seem to help. "Loki! What exactly did you do?! I told you to sacrifice Hastur's children to Shub-Niggurath so they'd clash against each other, instead of against us! I didn't tell you to… dammit, I didn't tell you to summon Cthulhu!"

Unfortunately, the name seemed to elicit a reaction from the molluscoid creature, and it turned it's unseeing, milky eyes the size of small buildings towards the four hovering divine creatures.

Michael felt a foreign presence, as if his head and very existence was being opened like a sandwich and it's contents examined under the scrutinizing eyes of a connoisseur, all the while Odin doubled over and the old god's face became streaked with sweat.

Loki seemed to black out and fell over, and dropped like a brick from the sky.

Yasaka's fox-form's hairs stood on ends, and the kitsune struggled visibly before her nine tails slinked between her legs against her better judgement.

Sirzechs seemed to fare the best, cuing Michael to the possibility that the Maou had likely been in contact with the Outer Being in the past, as the Maou merely grimaced and took a 'step' back in the air while his wings shook a bit.

Luckily the Outer Being wasn't interested in the four, and the gaze passed… And seemingly focused on a child of Shub-Niggurath in the distance.

Michael saw as a vein pulsed in the Outer Being's temple, and feared for all creation…

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"[Resurrection]... Gah, how many valkyries did the Dark Young eat… [Resurrection]..."

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Kunou's screams turned to muted whimpers as a maggot-like tentacle latched itself around her head, closing her mouth.

She was lifted up from the tentacle-covered floor of the forest… And towards the massive tree with goat-eyes.

The white-haired woman who had saved Kunou for a brief moment was brought first towards the web of tentacles and bark that parted to show rows upon rows of goat's teeth… And the white-haired woman woke up from her concussion as her leg was caught by the monstrous tree's teeth.

"Ghyaaagh!" The woman screamed as the flat, dull herbivore-teeth crushed her flesh and tore it out, leaving a mauled and bleeding stump in place of her shin.

Kunou's whimpering intensified as she saw the monstrous tree take more nibbling bites of the woman's flesh, and it looked as if the tree was taking revenge on the woman for striking it's root with a spear.

"Stoop! StooooARGH?!" The white-haired woman's scream turned to a howl of pain as the tree lowered her into its mouth and tore one of her breasts off.

Kunou turned her eyes away while trying her hardest to block out the sounds of the gorey torture her saviour was forced to endure- Until she heard a horrifying bleating sound.

It was a screech of anger, annoyance, and betrayal… And Kunou stole a glance towards the torture, only to see that the white-haired woman had disappeared.

She could guess where.

Which meant Kunou was next.

"M-mommy… Please…"

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"[Resurrection]- Ah!" Momonga paused as he grabbed the last remaining piece of gore in the sludge and it resurrected into Rossweisse. 'Gah… Of course it'd be the last one…'

The 'stomach' of the Dark Young was thoroughly crowded now, although luckily most of the Valkyries hadn't started to scream, and only few of them had attempted to attack Momonga or do something equally hasty after getting resurrected.

Which, due to their weakness after resurrection, wasn't all too distracting to Momonga and the women had stopped as soon as they had realized that Momonga was resurrecting their comrades.

"Aarrgh… Hurts…" Rossweisse groaned in pain and confusion while reaching to fondle her own boob, for some reason, before she seemingly realized where she was. Or rather, that Momonga was in front of her. "M-Momon-sama…"

"It's alright. I'm here now… Everything will be alright..." Momonga answered with a distracted voice, more to reassure himself than to reassure Rossweisse, as he cast [Detect Life] on Rossweisse… And noticed only her health-sign, even though he focused his attention on her lower abdomen. 'S-surely, it's only because the pregnancy is so early-stage… Right?'

He cast [Detect Life] again, this time with [Maximize Magic] metamagic modifier… And the result was the same. "No… [Resurrection]! [True Resurrection]!"

The results didn't change, causing Momonga to fall into despair, and the results were the same even after Momonga pulled out a healing potion and poured it on top of increasingly confused Rossweisse… Only for Emotion Suppression to catch the feeling and return it to normal.

And the despair returned.

However, the racial ability was clearly at the end of it's length as each 'bounce-back' took longer and longer… Until the ability, simply put, stopped working.

'I'm… crying?' Momonga felt as the results of his actions weighed down on him heavily, and in a moment a thousand different scenarios and what-if's rushed through his head in what Suzuki Satoru realized to be regret. "Rossweisse… Your pregnancy… It's… gone. I brought you back, but..."

"Ah, but I wasn't…" The woman breathed in quickly, despite the foul scent in the cramped space, before she shuddered and looked away guiltily. "...Yes…"

Momonga felt… odd.

It was quite an interesting thing, for an undead creature to feel emotions so vibrantly and without restraint.

"R-Rossweisse?" The bluish-white haired woman breathed in quickly as she saw the white-haired one.

"B-Brynhildr?" Rossweisse seemed to recognize the woman. "W-what are you doing here? Wait, where is here exactly?"

"I don't know! I just remember getting caught by a… A horrible thing after leading my flight of Valkyries…" Brynhildr was pale as a sheet. "They.. All died…"

"We're here, Lady Brynhildr…" One of the other valkyries mouthed. "At least, most of us…"

Brynhildr seemed to recognize one of the naked valkyries that were in the Dark Young's stomach alongside Momonga and Rossweisse, and she had to visibly stop herself from crying in relief. "Ah- Ah… But… How…"

"That's because Momon-sama must have brought us back!" Rossweisse explained, although Momonga barely noted it.

'It's dead… My child... I can't bring it back…' Momonga felt quite… upset, now that the despair made way for rage.

Part of the rage was towards the unknown assailant who had sacrificed Rossweisse to the Dark Young. Part of the rage was towards Odin, who Momonga guessed to have masterminded the whole thing- Likely to throw Momonga into rage and drive him to act hasty and make mistakes, something that 'Momonga' realized was working but 'Suzuki Satoru' couldn't care less about.

...And one part of the rage was directed at Rossweisse for betraying him by joining her true allies, even if said allies had sacrificed her instantly afterwards- And the anger made Momonga do actions he'd normally find repulsive and more importantly, illogical.

'If you value your Norse allies so greatly, that you'd sacrifice your life for them, and consent to being a hostage and a sacrifice... then… This will be a suitable punishment for you.' Momonga felt vindictive and angry now that [Emotion Suppression] had shattered and was like a glass vase that had been dropped from the table. 'You'll be forever separated from them, distrusted for being a Devil among their ranks, and a traitor to them after the battle of this day… For eternity.'

He reached into his inventory, grabbed a Pawn piece, and pushed it into Rossweisse's chest while she was distracted by Brynhildr.

"Rossweisse! No- He's-!" Brynhildr screamed for Rossweisse to dodge, but in the cramped stomach there was nowhere to do so.

Rossweisse only managed to let a quick yelp of surprise before the Piece merged into her chest as she had attempted to turn around but only managed to push her back against the fleshy wall, and a red transformation circle lit the insides of the Dark Young in bale red glow.

"M-Momon-sama… W-why?!" Rossweisse seemed to recognize the circle as it waned… And the woman promptly passed out from the strain of the sudden transformation.

The Dark Young came to a halt after running as if it was fleeing… And with the Dark Young stopping, so did the last vestiges of Momonga's patience.

"[Reality Slash]." The Dark Young's stomach burst as a molecule-thin shift in reality tore a long gash into it's flesh from the inside, allowing the group stuck in the stomach to flood out.

Momonga landed on his feet as he had cast [Fly] mid-fall, while the weakened or unconscious naked valkyries landed behind him in a tangle of limbs.

Momonga glanced to the side to see that the Dark Young had taken him to his mansion in Kuoh, as the sacrifice had taken place deep within Norse battle-lines.

"Kha… Ahahaha… I don't know what I was expecting…" A familiar voice came from nearby and Momonga turned to look at Rias who had apparently organized a hasty defence as the Dark Young had rampaged towards the mansion.

A glance to the Norse battle-lines showed the remaining Vikings and Valkyries getting outright slaughtered by a dark, mis-shapen dragon with tubular tentacles hanging off its mouth, which was wide enough that it's edges reached up to it's shoulders.

Or in other words, Gasper had created a hole in Norse lines through which the weakened Dark Young could punch through in its journey towards Momonga's mansion without it and the occupants of the creature getting attacked.

The spears of the Angels and Fallen shook as they were pointed at the trashing Dark Young, as the dark beast had fallen on it's side after getting gutted and was twitching like a wounded animal that was fighting off an imaginary predator.

Momonga couldn't care less, however. A sense of emptiness permeated his thoughts, almost as if little mattered anymore.

The part of him that was 'Momonga' knew that it was a foolish thing to do, and a foolish thing to feel in the middle of the battlefield, but Suzuki Satoru was quite inconsolable.

"Capture them." Momonga motioned towards the group of valkyries who were moving weakly in a pile. "I've… subdued them. We could use hostages towards the traitorous Norse."

"Ugh... " Rias groaned as she noted the lack of clothing on the Valkyries. "Please don't tell me how you subdued them… Ah? Rossweisse-chan! Wait, hold on…Momon- That… Monster in the distance… It's… somehow familiar, but..."

The red-head went to grab the unconscious white-haired girl, and the reinforcements Rias had organized moved to chain the newly-resurrected Valkyries while giving Momonga reverent looks. Moreover, Rias was pointing at something in the distance.

He glanced behind him to see a massive form in the distance that was quite similar to the end-boss of Outer Gods-expansion of YGGDRASIL.

Moreover, the creature was approaching Kuoh in a sluggish but somehow rapid pace.

'...I think I'll need to go for a walk.' Momonga sighed as he was starting to get quite fed up with the situation… But before he could do so a feathered shape landed in front of him, and ten more landed all around him, trapping him within the circle. "I'm seriously not in the mood for this…"

"My lord, please, your promise!" The familiar tengu that had bartered with Momonga for a resurrection in exchange for aid broke the circle of it's kin that had surrounded Momonga with weapons drawn, clearly intending on trying to keep Momonga from disappearing again until he honored his end of the deal.

The tengu offered a child with nine tails towards Momonga, who for a moment considered just killing all of the feathered creatures and walking off the battlefield, leaving the warring factions to deal with themselves.

However, the logical part of 'Momonga' was starting to slowly take over as Suzuki Satoru had 'sat' down in the dust-scape of Momonga's mind, and was staring empty-eyed at the sole, now-slowly wilting sprout of a green tree in his mind.

Ddraig was quiet for once, no doubt the dragon had realized that Momonga was not in the mood for the dragon's antics and would not be able to control himself if the dragon started to make snide remarks about how everything was Momonga's fault, which Suzuki Satoru realized that it was, more or less.

Back in the real world, Momonga merely reached into his inventory to produce a [Wand of Resurrection] since he was starting to run dangerously low on mana as far as his combat preparedness went, although it wasn't anywhere near the level of being combat inefficient- The sacrifice of the consumable item was acceptable as the single resurrection would likely secure him an ally within Shinto, which he'd need once the dust had settled.

The wand shattered into dust as he moved it over the kitsune child's body half-heartedly…

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Kunou screamed, screamed, begged, whimpered and cried.

Nothing helped, no-one came, she was alone.

The small body of the girl had become even smaller as the massive tree gnawed on her, leaving just her head, upper half of her torso and hand by which the bleating tree-mother hung the kitsune above it's flat-toothed maw.

Kunou let a whimper as death wouldn't come, as she knew instinctively that only torment and devouring existed in that dimension until the tormented were devoured and became one with the living goat-trees.

She saw her guts hang down like ropes from her gnawed-off waist and the massive maw approached again to bite and slurp the exposed organs like noodles, eliciting a muted whimper from Kunou while blood flowed freely down from her torso and from her mouth.

'Mommy… please… daddy…' Kunou had a faint memory of her mother talking about a man who had 'seeded' her and then disappeared, as part of a pact, a deal, or something, and the young kitsune was drawn into her memories in a futile attempt to not think about the horrifying fate that was happening to her.

She had never met her dad, but at that moment she was at her most desperate… And the massive tree lowered Kunou's torso into the crushing teeth, clearly intending on leaving just her head to nibble on next-

A bright, warm light flooded Kunou's mind and body, and the light turned to darkness before finally solidifying into what Kunou faintly remembered to be 'fresh air'.

She opened her eyes, fearing for the worst… And her eyes locked with the brown eyes of a tall man who looked a bit indifferent as he had his hand above Kunou's chest.

"D-daddy?"

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In the Forbidden Dark Forest of Shub-Niggurath… A great tree screamed bloody vengeance as it was denied the just sacrifice she had been given, time and again, and to which she had given up her very own children.

The forest stood up on its roots… And the next moment, the Forbidden Forest had become a Forbidden Plain.

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