125 The Mischievous God

Ignis was asleep in his room when he heard a knock on the door. His eyes opened to see a ceiling made of roots and walls of stone. The bed he laid in was made of a soft material. A mesh of leaves and rolled leather and some kind of cotton. But despite its seemingly uncomfortable contents it was actually a fairly soft bed.

Ignis sat up with a stretch Before moving from the bed to open the door. The sheets moved to reveal his mostly naked form. A golden colored loincloth wrapped about his waist covered what was important. But he held a higher standard than that to answer the door. A robe materialized from the roots around him. Roots wove about quickly forming a thin bark like cover for his body like a robe shaped armor. The joints splitting slightly to make it more like a samurai. As he moved to the door the roots broke from his armor smoothly. no branches stuck out or roots to catch on. Its surface was perfect. And that figure is who opened the door.

The person behind the door was a young woman dressed in a maid uniform. Her figure was plain and she bowed low with a platter in her hands. Ignis could see her arms trembling slightly but the tray did not move. This woman had obviously been preparing to see him and was still very nervous.

He looked down at the platter observing its contents. Alot of fruits and vegetables but also half of the damn tray was meat. A tray the size of a persons torso and half of it was meat. Sausages, steaks, a roast, bacon, hell even a pigs head was present.

It was no wonder her arms were trembling on top of being nervous.

"Thank you for waking me. I didn't realize I was hungry. But you know... I always held a thought that elves would have a more vegan diet. But I see that you have all made a humble exception for me." He said as he gently took the platter and moved it to a small table within the room before sitting in a chair.

His armor scraped lightly against the chair as he sat down. The platter before him made his mouth water with all the smells. But before he could dine on the succulent meal he noticed the maid hadn't moved.

As a matter of fact it looked like she was hardly breathing. Ignis let his energy move into the environment and found something that scared him in the moment. Her heart had stopped.

Ignis raised his hands and clapped sending out a shockwave to the woman. It hit her in the chest sending her skidding into the wall behind her. The impact being enough to start her heart again.

When Ignis felt this he let out a sigh of relief as the woman slightly slumped over panting from her brush with death. But Ignis had already had enough. He had saved her life. Now he was going to enjoy his breakfast.

The steaks were soft as the highest grade beef with a hint of lemon zest. The sent of grasslands could still be smelt from the finely grilled meat. The roast was a kind of meat Ignis had never had before. It wasnt the type of taste one would get from a land animal. No. It tasted like it came from the sea. The taste of seaweed and salt at the tip of the tongue. Followed by the buttery flavor of crab, shrimp, and lobster. Dense meat rolled together with the fat perfectly so the meat was juicy, and soft, yet dense.

/Host has consumed Titan Crustacean. A being the size of a city which sheds it's body every hundred years to create a new one to regrow from for a longer life.

Exo-armor (passive): An exoskeleton who's hardness surpasses most common sense. Iron is butter compared to it. Titanium is like bread. None can penetrate your shell.

Skill has been obtained and merged with passive body skills

Water Lord (passive): Being a lord of water means that all water obeys your will. All powerful among the waves below the gods. Water now obeys you as naturally as the waves beat the shore and the rivers flow.

Skill has been learned and merged with elemental skills./

Sin chimed in his head as Ignis ate. It showed a hologram of a beast. It's shell was similar to a lobster with the legs of a crab. 6 Large pincers sat at the front of its body. Its claws easily dwarfing any Ignis had seen before. Eyes sat on googly tendrils wandering here and there watching everything in a 360° scope around itself.

Ignis shook his head as he found himself marvelling at this world even more and continued his meal.

Some maids had come and found the other one passed out on the floor. Though she was now very much alive. The impact Ignis gave her to keep her that way left a few cracks in the wood where she hit the wall and maybe a cracked rib. But she couldn't complain. After all. A god found her worthy enough to save.

Or so the rumors spread across the city.

The team of servants soon cleared themselves of the hallway leaving Ignis in peace to finish his meal before heading to the castles main hall.

The main hall was mostly made of roots as it was at the base of the great tree. The floor was made of dirt and no sun made it into the area. So the smell of damp soil and wood filled ones nose on entering. There was no sunlight but the tree made up for it with glowing blue bulbs along its enormous roots. The light wasn't much. But it was enough to see and make ones way around.

It was truly a place with a fantasy feel to it. Little fairies seemed to dance amid the glowing bulbs. Appearing as little lights in the dimness. Yet they playfully flew away when anyone reached for them or got close.

Ignis couldn't help but marvel a bit at the scenery and feel a bit of nostalgia. His time in the forest felt like eons ago. But yet he remembered it like it was yesterday. His little nook below the star fruit tree. His hollow of safety amid the rampant and deadly forest he knew.

He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts as he entered a large room. It's width was at least a mile wide and just as long. The ceiling arched with a webbed root system about it. The smaller roots weaving in and out of the larger ones in a beautiful if not tangled mess. And at the center stood the queen kneeling in the middle of the room. And before her stood a stranger.

The strangers physique was tall, muscular yet lean. His clothes held a Greek or Roman look as they were a type of white and gold toga. His feet were fitted with leather sandals that had small brass wings attached at the sides that seemed to flap every once in a while. One could not see his face though. It was covered in a wrap of white cloth. A mantle or scarf of sorts that left his face in darkness within their embrace.

The stranger turned to look at Ignis as he walked through the doorway. And a voice echoed through the chamber. A tenor voice. Soft yet masculine. Seeming to be a note of music in the dim echoes of the chamber.

"So... this is the one who helped my people."

Ignis's eyes turned to slits as he focused on the figure before him. The mans voice eminated light and musical tones. Yet the energy it gave off was insulted and dark. As though it was thinking an unneeded and unwanted pest had entered the territory.

And though he was slightly peeved Ignis maintained his neutral mood.

"I merely fixed a mortal fool who thought himself a god. And returned a lost lamb home. So I imagine myself as less of a savior and more of a... helpful tourist." He said as he strode forward till he was face to face with this robed figure.

Seeing Ignis not cowering seemed to make this person rather bored. Or perhaps a little deflated. But not seeing his face one could hardly tell as it only showed a stoic darkness.

"Hehehe..." A small laugh seemed to dance through the chamber at first but it began to build into and entertained and joyous laugh. "Hehehe... Hahahahahahaha!!!!" The roaring laugh resounded through the chamber making the walls shake and the roots tremble.

The queen struggled on the floor as she covered her ears amid the roaring noise. Feeling as though her head would split. And then as sudden as it began, it stopped.

She slowly looked around and found the ground still shaking and the walls the same. Yet a barrier of still air froze the falling dust and debris around her perfectly.

She looked up seeing Ignis nod at her before turning his attention back to the stranger and unleashing his divine aura at maximum.

And multi-colored light flooded the chamber.

Outside the queens dome of silence the laugh was continuing and this figure had added divine power of his own. The air shivered and shook violently between Ignis and this creature. But nothing changed. The divine powers clashed in a perfect stalemate as light as bright as the sun flooded one side and a rainbow filled the other.

Though this lasted only a moment before the powers died down and with it the laughter.

When the light cleared one could see the queen laying on the ground with her head covered and the two gods standing sweating and breathing hard.

Ignis's full figure stood before the queen. Not in size but in everything he was. His wings were spread wide behind him and his holy objects held in each hand.

The figure opposite him now had his face revealed. Long elven ears peeked from beneath golden locks of hair that flowed down to his shoulders. A straight nose like a hawk and a chiseled and well rounded chin. His eyes were hazel colored and his skin tanned. His teeth as clean and bright as porcelain. And in his hand he held a Caduceus and a winged helm sat on his head.

"We'll... Mercury. I didn't expect this." Ignis panted out. "Trying to kill me or is this just your way of saying thank you?"

Mercury smiled as he panted. "Just wanted to see the new god who's making waves. A little prank gone out of hand is all. Anyways. I'll send a present over. Laters!" He panted as he turned into gold light that shot through the ceiling without leaving a trace.