Chapter Eleven

In the end you decided to sneak in. Keeping your power level low you really solely on your psychic abilities to move fast while remaining undetected. As you get in however you notice that the temperature rose to dangerous levels, most likely due to the geothermal vents around the place. You try to adjust the technique Hit taught you to keep yourself warm so you can insulate yourself with it instead.

Rather than vibrating your own muscles you vibrate the air around you to create a bubble of sorts. The trick seems to work and you can safely enter the place without being boiled alive by your own bodily fluids. However this means you can't really move fast anymore so no gliding over the ground. Resorting to a more traditional form of sneaking around you hide in the shadows and behind corners, waiting for an opportunity to arise.

You have the deck stacked in your favor now. Your enemies can't detect you but you can still feel their movement. All you need now is patience.

And your careful approach pays off when the bat like creature speaks to his comrades.

"A'ight guys! I'm gonna go take a leak! Don't you bastards eat my cake! Eh?"

"Sure sure." One of them replies. "Just be quick about it! You know I love desert!"

The bat walks behind a derelict house and proceeds to relieve himself after all the merriment. Once he's done and pulled up his pants however he's in for a rude awakening. You cover his mouth with one arm and before he could properly react you drive your free palm into his back. Letting out a muffled yelp he freezes in terror as you send in pulse after pulse of psychic energy which reverberate in his body, causing more and more internal damage to him. With one final thrust you deliver the last one which manages to stop his heart.

His body goes limp and lifeless so you quietly put him down on the ground and move away from the scene of the crime.

The two stronger ones, Chappil and Comfrey realize that something's amiss and start looking around the place. "Hey! Where's Rozel? Is he taking a dump? Hey! ROZEL!"

As the two of them make their way to their now dead friend you close in on the third guy who was left alone. Sneaking up behind him you extend your hand and once touching his skull give his brain a good little scramble. Luckily your assumption that his brain should be where his head is was correct and he falls dead as well.

The Arcosians around you start quivering in fear but you raise a finger to your mouth and quickly hush them just as the other two stumble upon your first victim. "ROZEL! WHAT THE F- WHICHEVER GREEN SHIT DID THIS IS DEAD!" They rush back and start demanding answers. "WHO HAS THE BALLS- Huh?"

They spot you. The guy who looks like the creature from the black lagoon is the first to charge you. "YOU! YOU'RE DEA-" But as he gets close you employ some TK movement to get right in front of him and shove a ball of psychic energy into his stomach.

"Null Lance." You whisper as a watermelon sized hole is punctured in him.

The guy who's a literal dragon is much less eager to attack you instead opting to assume a defensive posture as he began to talk.

"Who are you?"

"..."

"What do you want?"

"..."

"Cocky bastard..."

"You shouldn't have harmed these people."

"A wannabe hero? Kinda cold for that, don't you think?"

You raise your fists. "The gods of destruction send their regards."

That got him riled up real good. His eyes were running red with fury as he opened his mouth and spit out a stream of fire like ki. "DIE!"

As the roaring fire came closer you realized that it's way too fast to dodge so instead you intensified the vibration around your body, hoping to block off the heat from it. However just before the thing landed you noticed something... peculiar going on. Almost like the fire froze in place it hovered in front of you motionlessly but only for a moment. This brief opening allowed you to move out of the attacks way and using all your power you closed the gap.

Staring your opponent down you place a palm on his chest and just by the look of your eyes the dragon KNOWS he's about to die. "P-Please! Mercy!"

You raise your palm to his head. "Save the begging for later." With a strong concussive blast you knock Chappil unconscious and as you pick up his body you turn to the Arcosians. "Go on. You're free now."

Flying back to the ship while dragging the dragon by his tail you find Hit already waiting for you. Behind him are three wolfmen who appear to be in too much pain to really do anything. "Nice job. You managed to get back four of them. Only three left."

"Actually, we're done here. The rest are dead."

Hit raises one of his brows. "Really? Huh... Not bad."

You look at the three dogs laying in front of him. "Looks like you didn't go easy on them. But I still expected worse."

"Champa said dead or alive, didn't he? I didn't feel like digging three graves. But apparently that didn't stop you. Poor guys."

"Huh? You pity them? Why?"

"That technique I taught you... It was my former style back when I still haven't perfected my powers. It's good for non-lethal takedowns but I stopped using it."

Hit clenches his fist. "The one I'm using now grants my targets an instantaneous and painless death. That one however... hurts quite a lot when you kill with it."

You look up to the assassin. "I... may have misjudged you Hit. Thank you for teaching me."

"No problem." He then turns to the ship where the three other guys are watching you intently.

"What about them? They claim they came here on their own. Is that true?"

"Yes... They are refugees in the true sense.

Their home was a horrid place and they left it seeking a better life. For what it's worth I want to speak for their case to Champa and Sidra."

"Careful... The Gods of Destruction are fickle."

"I'm aware. I only hope that I proved myself valuable enough to Champa."

"Hmmmm... Smart. Well let's get on with it.

We've got a bounty to turn in."

As you fly through the cold void of space you see Hopp, Sorrel and Hyssop cautiously looking over their former comrades. You sense that they feel relieved for coming peacefully.

However as you get closer and closer to Champas planet you sense their tension rising and they begin to doubt their decision. You pity them, you truly do. But right now it's completely up in the air whether or not they have to go back to that shithole of a universe they call home.

Landing in the middle of the palace you are immediately greeted by both gods and their retainers. "Good good!" Champa speaks up.

"Excellent work you two! Nice and quick as it should be!"

However that son of a whore Kai is less than pleased. "But it looks like your worthless little assassins did a shoddy job Champa! There is only seven of them here!"

Champa glares at him. "That's lord Champa to you. And this is the last time I'll tolerate you speaking Kai!" He then turns back to you.

"Now I expect you have an explanation for this discrepancy!"

You step forth. "The missing persons are dead. If Lord Sidra has any doubts he is free to go to Arcosia to check the bodies. But I must warn you, the locals may have eaten them already. Or worse."

"See?" Champa gloats. "Hit never fails a contract! Neither does my chef apparently! Hehe!"

Sidra nods. "That is good enough for me.

Now if you would step aside I have to mete out some punishment!"

"I didn't want to do this yet but... it looks like I have no choice." You speak up. "Vados! Could I get a table and chairs for the gods please?"

"Only because you asked so nicely!"

With a wave of her wand Vados conjured up a nice little table with white table cloth and matching seats. After sitting the gods of destruction down you head inside and prepare... it. Coming out with a kettle full of freshly brewed tea and a large plate of desert you start serving each of the deities, except the kai of course. They each take a bite out of the fluffy goodness and start voicing their pleasure.

"WHOOOOOOA! WHAT IS THIS?!"

*sigh* "Cheesecake sir. I was saving it for a special occasion but I suppose this will do."

You take a seat with them and pour yourself a cup of tea and after making ABSOLUTELY sure the gods have been buttered up you begin speaking.

"I realize it's not my place to say so, but those three over there only left their universe because of the condition of it." The gods both look up from their sugary treats and pause for a moment. "They had no malicious intent at all, and were willing to starve instead of hurting the Arcosians. They are good people and I'd like to help them and because of that I must be blunt Lord Sidra."

"Hmmm?"

"Your universe has problems."

"How... DARE YOU?!" The Kai speaks up before Champa points two fingers at him. Your god then motions for you to continue.

"I don't mean to belittle you or insult you... I understand and respect the Gods of Destruction. Not just because of their power but because of the great responsibility that comes with the job. I... don't want the job and never will. I don't think I have what it takes to erase planets BUT that doesn't mean I don't understand the necessity of it. And you slacked off in your duties."

"YOU UTTER FOOL! You dare presume you understand the GODS?!"

"No. But I have common sense. A thing seemingly so rare nowadays it could be considered a superpower... And you shouldn't speak a DAMN word! While Lord Sidra made a mistake in "sparing the child" as it were, he did it out of benevolence. You however completely and UTTERLY botched your task out of malevolence! Your blunder makes Lord Sidras irrelevant in comparison!"

"Now... correct me if I'm wrong Lord Sidra but you said that there are universe wide revolts in your home. Is that right?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Then you should treat the source of your problems instead of the symptoms. Erasing these people won't change a thing. People escaped your universe once, they'll do it again. But if you take those four back and let them serve as an example for the rest..."

"Yeees... I see your point. Wait... did you say four?"

"Y-Yes my lord. I'd like to request amnesty for Hysopp, Hopp and Sorrel. They are good people and acted not out of malice but desperation."

"Hey wait a minute!" Champa speaks up. "Are you asking for them to stay? Why would I agree to that?"

You lean in and start whispering in his ear.

"Because you need evidence if you want to blackmail Sidra. And besides! That's less mortal score for him and more for you!"

"Grrrrr... okay fine! I'll play along for now!"

Champa then clears his throat. "Yes. As my highly valued servant said, we as Gods should encourage mortals as much as punish them!

Think about it Sidra! If you reward them for their good behavior then that'll encourage the rest of your universe to do the same and your ranking will get out of the shitter!"

"B-But I tried that before and it didn't work!"

"Didn't you pay attention? You need to start acting like a Destroyer first! Maybe get rid of that Kai as well so you can blow up some pesky, no-good planets in peace. Then you can use positive reinforcements once things have settled down!"

"Hmmmmmm...."

"DON'T LISTEN TO A WORD THEY SAY SIDRA!

DON'T YOU GET IT?! THEY ARE PLAYING YOU!"

Sidra then slams his hands on the table, completely out of character. "ENOUGH!"

He stands up and stares down Roh. "Maybe they are... But I've been listening to you up until now! AND LOOK WHERE WE ARE NOW?!"

Sidra then begins to emanate a purple aura.

"Our universe is the laughing stock of the gods! All my planets are in chaos because of YOU! And despite my best intentions my people are miserable! I'd rather listen to a bunch of conmen than EVER heeding your advice AGAIN!" And just like a storm Sidras rage fades as quickly as it appeared. "Earthling... was it? You wish for those three to remain in your universe? Fine! You spoke for them, hence forth you shall be responsible for them!" Sidra turns back to his now scared shitless kai. "Now... what shall I do with you when I get back home?"

"Well... I suppose I'll have to decide that later.

But don't expect to get off easy Roh! I may even consider requesting a new Supreme Kai!" Sidra then turns back to you. "Well earthling... thank you for opening my eyes.

I swear that from now on I'll try fulfill my duty better."

The god of destruction from universe 9 then gathered up the four remaining malcontents and headed back home, leaving Hopp, Sorrel and Hyssop here. Champa scratched the back of his ear nervously before snapping at you.

"Look what you did! You heard him right? They are yours! So I don't care what you do with them! But if they become a nuisance I'll destroy them! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!"

"Yes Lord Champa. Thank you for your generosity." Turning around to face the girls and Mr Ice Cube over there you speak up to them. "Well... Guess that's that."

"I,,, can't believe it." Sorrel mutters. "Y-You actually stood up to us? You... actually... helped us?"

"Of course! I told you I would!"

Hyssop then knelt down before you. "Thank you for your kindness master!" The girls noticing this followed suit. "What would you have us do?"

Nervously you laugh and look around. "Vados... little help?"

"Don't look at me. You got yourself in this mess. You are responsible for them now. That means more than you may realize..."

"Well shit..."

"Okay... first things first: Do you shed?"

"H-Huh?" They shake their heads.

"Good! Because otherwise I wouldn't let you in my kitchen that's for sure!"

Looking at each other in confusion they speak up. "K-Kitchen?"

"That's right! Do you have any skills beyond fighting?" They shake their heads in dumb confusion. "Well... we'll have to change that! From this day onward you shall be under my tutelage! And I shall teach you the ways of cooking and gardening! Even though I don't know jack about that... You three shall be my assistants!"

They exchange a worried glance before returning their gazes to you. Hyssop stands up and gives you a slight bow. "If that is your wish then we'd be more then happy to oblige."

"Good!"

The rest also stand up and Sorrel speaks to you. "By the way... We... don't even know the name of our benefactor. Could you tell us?"

"Oh? Sure. It completely slipped my mind!

I am Eric Asulf! Inheritor of the Berserker Rage! Master of Battle and aide to the gods!

But you may address me as the Chef! Master Chef!"

They give you less than amused looks. And generally you get the vibe that whatever respect they may have had just evaporated in a second when they realized you are a jackass. "We'll... not do that."

You shrug. "Suit yourselves. But you'll give in sooner or later. It's inevitable!"

"Yeah... We'd still like to try our chances."